deaf as a post

Idioms  

1. Also, deaf as an adder. Unable to hear or to listen, as in Speak louder, Grandpa's deaf as a post. The first simile has its origin in John Palsgrave's Acolastus (1540): “How deaf an ear I intended to give him ... he were as good to tell his tale to a post.” It has largely replaced deaf as an adder, alluding to an ancient belief that adders cannot hear; it is recorded in the Bible (Psalms 58:3–5).

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

deaf as a post

Father has a friend, a man in his mid-seventies named Mr. Dreher, who’s sick, poor and deaf as a post.

From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank

He's deaf as a post," and continued,— "If we marry, we 'll marry a beauty, If single we 'll try and control Our tastes within limits of duty, And make ourselves jolly with coal, Coal!

From The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly by Lever, Charles James

Here——the Nine are as deaf as a post, and as cold as a stone!

From The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 3, February, 1851 by Various

You'll like Aunt Jane, she's as deaf as a post and very bloodthirsty—and then you can begin the course afterwards.

From Mufti by McNeile, H. C. (Herman Cyril)

The entire army must have become as deaf as a post.

From Recreations of Christopher North, Volume 2 by Wilson, John