▪ I. adder1
(ˈædə(r))
[f. add v. + er1.]
1. He who adds.
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong., Qui adjoinct, a ioiner to, an adder to. |
2. An adding-machine.
| 1890 N.Y. Herald Jan. (Advt.), The Adder is so called because really too simple to be styled a ‘machine’. |
3. A unit in an electronic computer (see quot. 1962).
| 1948 A. Svoboda Computing Mechanisms ii. 37 The bar-linkage adder..consists of essentially the same parts as the linkage of Fig. 2–11. 1954 Electronic Engin. Sept. 376/2 The sample instruction..asks the machine to take the number..and to add this to the contents of the accumulator... In the last 6 digits [of the instruction] is the binary code which operates the circuit to perform the required function, the adder. 1962 Gloss. Terms Autom. Data Processing (B.S.I.) 100 Adder, a unit with two or more input variables and one output variable which is equal to the sum, or a weighted sum, of the input variables. |
▪ II. adder2
(ˈædə(r))
Forms: 1–2 nædre, næddre, 3 nadre, 3–4 naddre, 4–5 nadder; 1–4 nedre, 2–4 neddre, 3–4 neddere, 3–7 nedder, 4–5 -ir, 5 -yr; 4 eddre, eddere, 4–5 eddyre, 5 eddyr, -ur, 5–6 -ir, 5–7 -er; 4 addre, 5– adder. Sc. 6 ather. pl. adders; formerly 1 nædran; 2–4 nedren, neddren, naddren, addren; 3 nedres, neddres, -is; 4–5 eddres, addres.
[OE. nædre, cogn. w. OLG. nadra, OHG. natra, natara, ON. naðra, naðr, Goth. nadrs. The initial n was lost in ME. 1300–1500, through the erroneous division of a naddre, as an addre. Nedder is still a north. dial. form. The Lindisf. Gosp. gloss has cyn ætterna ‘brood of venomous ones,’ for OE. nædrena cynn, but there is nowhere any form-confusion between nædre serpent and ætter venom; though, from meaning serpent generically, the word has gradually been restricted in Britain to the native viper, and its supposed foreign congeners.]
† 1. a. A serpent; the generic name in OE. fig. The ‘old serpent,’ the devil. Obs.
| c 950 Lind. Gosp. Matt. xxiii. 33 Nedra, cynn ætterna! c 975 Rushw. ibid. Ȝe nedra, cynn uiperana! c 1000 Ags. Gosp. ibid. Eala ᵹe næddran [v.r. nædran] and næddrena [v.r. nædryna] cynn, hu fléo ᵹe fram helle dome? c 1160 Hatton Gosp. ibid. Eale ᵹe næddra & næddrena kyn! c 1160 Hatton Gosp. John iii. 14 Swa swa Moises þa neddre up á-hof [Ags. Gosp. Þa næddran v.r. nædran, Lind. ða nédræ, Rushw. ða nedre]. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 53 Witeð eow þet ȝe ne beo noht þe foaȝe neddre ne þe blake tadde. Ibid. Nedre haueð niþ and onde. c 1200 Moral Ode 277, in Trin. Coll. Hom. 228 Þar beð naddren and snaken, eueten and fruden. 1250 Gen. & Ex. 323 Eue, seide he, ðat neddre bold. c 1300 Cursor Mundi 758 Þe nedder nerhand hir gun draw. 1340 Ayenb. 61 Hi resembleþ an eddre þet hatte serayn. 1366 Mandeville 205 Thei maken a maner of hissynge, as a neddre dothe. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B xviii. 352 Lucyfer in lyknesse Of a luther addere. 1382 Wyclif Gen. iii. 4 Forsothe the eddre seide to the woman [1388 serpent]. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. 257 Dedly synne hath first suggestioun of the feend, as scheweth here by the neddir [v.r. naddere, adder, Hadder]. 1440 Promp. Parv. 135 Eddyr or neddyr, wyrme: Serpens. c 1440 Morte Arthur (1819) 108 An edder glode forth upon the grownde..To kylle the adder had he thoghte. c 1460 Towneley Myst., Annunc. 72 [Adam] begyled was Thrugh the edder. 1513 Douglas æneis ii. iv. 8 Throw the still sey from Tenedos in feir Lo twa gret lowpit ederis with mony thraw Fast throw the fluide towart the land can draw. |
† b. By extension, A dragon, i.e. a supposed serpent with wings. Obs.
| c 1300 K. Alis. 5262 Grete addren comen flynge. 1366 Mandeville 27 There fleyghe out an Eddere righte hidous to see. |
2. a. A small venomous serpent or snake; a viper. spec. The Common Viper (Pelias Berus): the historical and popular name, retaining the old associations, as the ideas of darting and stinging, not associated with the name viper.
| 1154 O.E. Chron. (Laud. MS.) an. 1137 Hi dyden heom in quarterne þar nadres & snakes & pades wæron inne. 1297 R. Glouc. 43 Nedre ny oþer wormes ne mow þer [Ireland] be noȝt. c 1315 Shoreham 104 So doth the naddre stinge. c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 542 Lyk to the naddre in bosom sly vntrewe [v.r. neddre, neddere, nadder, Petw. adder]. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. I. 303 Þe ilond Sardinia..haþ noþer addres noþer venym, but þey haue an herbe þat hatte apium, þat makeþ men laughe hem selue to deþ. c 1425 Wyntown Cron. i. xiii. 55 Ðare [in Irland] nakyn best of wenym may lyue or lest atoure a day; As Ask, or Eddyre, Tade or Pade. 1501 Douglas Palice of Honour ii. xxiv. (1787) 43 A vennomous ather and a serpent fell. 1535 Coverdale Prov. xxiii. 32 It byteth like a serpent [Wyclif eddere], and styngeth as an Adder [Wyclif kokatrice]. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. ii. i. 14 It is the bright day, that brings forth the Adder, And that craues warie walking. 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. (1851) 291 Stung with Adders, and Scorpions. 1674 Ray N.C. Words 146 A Nedder. Coluber, Anguis. 1719 Young Revenge i. i. (1757) II. 107 Has the dark adder venom? So have I, When trod upon. 1810 Scott Lady of L. v. xvi. Like adder darting from its coil. 1814 Carey Dante's Inferno xxiv. 96 Near to our side, darted an adder up. 1816 Scott Old Mort. 132 A pang which resembled the sting of an adder. |
b. By extension, Applied in the Bible and classical translations to various poisonous snakes, as the asp, basilisk, cockatrice, ‘deaf adder,’ etc. In mod. Zoology to species of Clotho and other Viperidæ, as the Puff Adder and Horned Adder of Africa, Death Adder of N. Australia, etc.
| a 1300 E.E. Psalter lviii. 54 Als of a neddre def als-swa Þat stoppand es his eres twa. 1483 Cathol. Ang. A Neddyr. Hec Aspis, hec lacerta, hic stellio, hic bisilliscus, hoc cicadrillus. 1611 Bible Ps. lviii. 4 They are like the deafe adder [marg. or aspe] that stoppeth her eare. |
3. flying adder, a widely diffused popular name of the Dragon-fly, used from Scotland to the Isle of Wight; also called Adder-fly and Adder-bolt.
4. sea adder, a species of pipe-fish Syngnathus acus.
5. Comb. as adder-flame, adder-voice; adder-bitten, adder-coloured, adder-headed, adder-tongued, adjs.; adder-bead, an amulet or ornament of prehistoric age, attributed to the Druids; adder-bred a., engendered of the serpent (or devil); adder-close, applied by W. Morris to the enclosure in which Rognar Lodbrok was said to be stung to death; adder-deaf a. deaf as an adder, see adder 2 b; adder-fly, a dragon-fly; adder-footed a. poet. dragon-footed; adder-hate poet. virulent, deadly hate; adder-like a., like an adder; also obs. of or pertaining to an adder, viperine; adder-pike, the sting-fish, or lesser weaver (Trachinus Vipera); adder-stone = adder-bead; adders' fry, obs., brood of vipers; adder's-meat, pop. name of the Greater Stitchwort; adder's-mouth, name given in U.S. to plants of genus Microstylis; adder's-spear = adder's-tongue.
| 1699 E. Lhwyd in Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 98 The Snake⁓button is the same described in the Notes on Denbighshire in Camden, by the Name of Adder-Beads. 1898 Wilde Ballad Reading Gaol 7 The gallows-tree With its adder-bitten root. 1587 Golding De Mornay xvii. 271 This Diuell which hath marred..y⊇ whole earth was a Serpent, (whom he called ὀϕιογενῆ or ὀϕιόνιον (?), that is to say, Snakebread or Adderbread,) which armeth men by whole troopes against God. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 85 When song arose From that Northumbrian adder-close. 1946 L. B. Lyon Rough Walk Home 29 Crunching the adder-coloured dung. a 1837 Campbell Power of Russia i. 7 Wks. 1837, 227 O heartless men of Europe—Goth and Gaul Cold, adder-deaf to Poland's dying shriek. 1920 E. Sitwell Wooden Pegasus 21 Adder-flames flare and spout From his lips. 1593 Golding Ovid's Metam. i. 6 When with there hundred hands a peece the Adder-footed rout Did practise for to conquer heaven. 1880 Contemp. Rev. March 431 Hated with the adder-hate of fear. 1874 Swinburne Bothwell ii. xiii. 182 What could sting you so, What adder-headed thought or venomous dream? 1611 Cotgr., Couleuvrin..adderlike, of an adder. 1814 Byron Corsair i. xiv. Worm-like 'twas trampled—adder-like avenged. 1540 in Strype Eccl. Mem. vi. 232 You serpents, adders-fry, how wil ye escape the judgment of God? 1861 Pratt Flowering Plants I. 245 Greater Stitch-wort, Satin-flower, or Adder's Meat. 1864 T. Moore Brit. Ferns 17 The common Adder's-tongue is gathered by country-people for the preparation of adder's-spear ointment. 1851 D. Wilson Preh. Annals II. iii. iv. 126 The Adder Stone is thought by superstitious people to possess many wonderful properties. 1824 Scott St. Ronan's III. viii. 209 What was it the old, adder-tongued madwoman dared to say of Clara Mowbray? 1946 E. Sitwell Fanf. Eliz. iii. 18 Adder-voices shrilling and hissing. |
Add: [5.] adder-tongue N. Amer. = adder's-tongue n. 1, *3.
| 1817 A. Eaton Man. Bot. 124 Ophioglossum. Capsules round, 1-celled, opening transversely; they are placed on a somewhat jointed spike in two close rows..(*adder-tongue fern). 1898 D. C. Scott Labor & Angel 52 The adder-tongue swinging its golden bells As the light wind swoops. 1927 A. C. Parker Indian How Bk. (1931) xli. 187 Leaves like those of the adder tongue, wild mustard, [etc.]..are all good as greens or pot herbs. 1967 B. J. Banfill Pioneer Nurse x. 122 The earthy carpet, cushioned with pink and white flowers and yellow adder tongues. |