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

“I figured you didn’t have a dog—or he was deaf as a post. What does a minister have to steal?”

From Literature

One reptile guide from the 1950s went so far as to call them, quote, “deaf as a post.”

From Scientific American

“But I still remained as deaf as a post.”

From Washington Post

When reason speaks they are deaf as a post.

From Project Gutenberg

She was young, enthusiastic, intensely interesting, and had only an old Roman nurse, deaf as a post and purblind, with her.

From Project Gutenberg