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).

---

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

It was fortunate for him that Mrs. Wire was as "deaf as a post," or his suddenly matured plan to "try again" might have been a failure.

From Try Again or, the Trials and Triumphs of Harry West. A Story for Young Folks by Optic, Oliver

It was no gift but the confusion of tongues which has gabbled me deaf as a post.

From Shirley by Brontë, Charlotte

Well, no—on second thoughts, not quite as deaf as a post, for by means of severe shouting she could be made to hear.

From The Buffalo Runners A Tale of the Red River Plains by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)

And was not Beethoven, in what some folk consider his mightiest era, as deaf as a post?

From Hortus Vitae Essays on the Gardening of Life by Lee, Vernon