adder

See also: Adder

English

WOTD – 11 January 2016
The head of the common European adder (Vipera berus)
The sea stickleback or adder-fish (Spinachia spinachia)

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈædɚ/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ædə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English addere, rebracketing of "a naddere" as "an addere", from Old English nǣdre, nǣddre (snake, serpent, viper, adder), from Proto-Germanic *nadrǭ (snake, viper) (compare West Frisian njirre, Dutch adder, German Natter, Otter), from pre-Germanic *néh₁treh₂, variant of Proto-Indo-European *n̥h₁trih₂ (compare Welsh neidr, Latin natrīx ‘watersnake’), from *(s)neh₁- (to spin, twist) (compare Dutch naaien). More at needle.

Noun

adder (plural adders)

  1. (obsolete) Any snake.
    • 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II Scene 2
      CALIBAN:
      [...]
      His spirits hear me,
      And yet I needs must curse. But they'll nor pinch
      Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i'th' mire,
      Nor lead me like a firebrand in the dark
      Out of my way, unless he bid 'em; but
      For every trifle are they set upon me,
      Sometimes like apes that mow and chatter at me,
      And after bite me; then like hedgehogs, which
      Lie tumbling in my barefoot way, and mount
      Their pricks at my footfall; sometimes am I
      All wound with adders, who with their cloven tongues
      Do hiss me into madness—
      [...]
  2. A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling the viper; a viper.
    1. (chiefly Britain) A small venomous serpent of the genus Vipera
      1. The common European adder (Vipera berus).
    2. The puff adders, of Africa (genus Bitis).
    3. (US, Canada) Any of several small nonvenomous snakes resembling adders
      1. Lampropeltis triangulum (milk snake).
      2. Heterodon spp. (hog-nosed snakes), a genus of harmless colubrid snakes found in North America
    4. Certain venomous snakes resembling other adders
      1. Acanthophis spp. (death adders), elapid snakes found in Southeast Asia and Australia
      2. Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen, the northern copperhead, a venomous viper found in the eastern United States
    5. A sea stickleback or adder fish (Spinachia spinachia).
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From add + -er.

Noun

adder (plural adders)

  1. Someone who or something which performs arithmetic addition; a machine for adding numbers.
  2. Something which adds or increases.
    They sought out cost adders with an eye toward eliminating them.
Derived terms
Translations

Further reading

Anagrams


Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch adder, from Middle Dutch adder, adre, misdivison of nadder, nadre, from Old Dutch *nadra, from Proto-Germanic *nadrǭ.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈadər/

Noun

adder (plural adders, diminutive addertjie)

  1. viper, adder

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch adder, adre, misdivison of nadder, nadre, from Old Dutch *nadra, from Proto-Germanic *nadrǭ.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɑ.dər/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: ad‧der
  • Rhymes: -ɑdər

Noun

adder m or f (plural adders or adderen, diminutive addertje n)

  1. viper, adder
  2. common viper, Vipera berus

Derived terms

Descendants

Anagrams


Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

adder

  1. imperative of addere

Old Prussian

Conjunction

adder

  1. or
    wāiklis adder mērgā - boy or girl
  2. but
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