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

"Nonsense!" laughs his host; "Mrs. Gray is my housekeeper, and she is deaf as a post."

From The Diamond Coterie by Lawrence L. Lynch

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 H. C. (Herman Cyril) McNeile

He was as deaf as a post, but he had a cutting wit.

From An Onlooker in France 1917-1919 by Sir William Orpen

Never fear, Ailie; he’s as deaf as a post to our language.

From The Red Eric by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne