adder

[ad-er]

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noun

the common European viper, Vipera berus.

any of various other venomous or harmless snakes resembling the viper.

Origin of adder

before 950; late Middle English; replacing Middle English nadder (a nadder becoming an adder by misdivision; cf. apron), Old English næddre; cognate with Old Saxon nādra, Old High German nātara (German Natter), Old Norse nathra snake, Gothic nadrs adder, Old Irish nathir snake, Latin natrix water snake

adder

[ad-er]

noun

a person or thing that adds.

Origin of adder

First recorded in 1570–80; add + -er¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for adder

cobra, rattle, snake, copperhead, asp, adder

Examples from the Web for adder

Historical Examples of adder

It is more venemous than the adder, it is more destructive than hebenon or madragora.
Imogen
William Godwin
Afterwards he seized hold of an adder, and was not bitten by it.
Bunyan
James Anthony Froude
Monsey jumped, with a scream, out of his seat as though stung by an adder.
The Shadow of a Crime
Hall Caine
Burke started, as if the tones of his companion's voice had stung him like an adder.
Jack Hinton
Charles James Lever
The good Book says, 'it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder!'
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe

British Dictionary definitions for adder

adder

noun

Also called: viper a common viper, Vipera berus, that is widely distributed in Europe, including Britain, and Asia and is typically dark greyish in colour with a black zigzag pattern along the back

any of various similar venomous or nonvenomous snakes

Word Origin for adder

Old English nǣdre snake; in Middle English a naddre was mistaken for an addre; related to Old Norse nathr, Gothic nadrs

adder

noun

a person or thing that adds, esp a single element of an electronic computer, the function of which is to add a single digit of each of two inputs

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for adder

Old English næddre "a snake, serpent, viper," from West Germanic *nædro "a snake" (cf. Old Norse naðra, Middle Dutch nadre, Old High German natra, German Natter, Gothic nadrs), from PIE root *netr- (cf. Latin natrix "water snake," probably by folk-association with nare "to swim;" Old Irish nathir, Welsh neidr "adder").

The modern form represents a faulty separation 14c.-16c. into an adder, for which see also apron, auger, nickname, humble pie, umpire. Nedder is still a northern English dialect form. Folklore connection with deafness is via Psalm lviii:1-5. The adder is said to stop up its ears to avoid hearing the snake charmer called in to drive it away. Adderbolt (late 15c.) was a former name for "dragonfly."