adder (redirected from Adders)

add·er ¹  (dr)

n.

One that adds, especially a computational device that performs arithmetic addition.

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ad·der ²  (dr)

n.

1. See viper.

2. Any of several nonvenomous snakes, such as the milk snake of North America, popularly believed to be harmful.

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[Middle English, from an addre, alteration of a naddre, a snake, from Old English ndre, snake.]

Word History: The biblical injunction to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves looks somewhat alien in the Middle English guise "Loke ye be prudent as neddris and symple as dowves." Neddris, which is perhaps the strangest-looking word in this Middle English passage, would be adders in Modern English, with a different meaning and form. Adder, an example of specialization in meaning, no longer refers to just any serpent or snake, as it once did, but now denotes only specific kinds of snakes. Adder also illustrates a process known as false splitting, or juncture loss: the word came from Old English ndre and kept its n into the Middle English period, but later during that stage of the language people started analyzing the phrase a naddre as an addrethe false splitting that has given us adder.

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adder

Noun

a small poisonous snake with a black zigzag pattern along the back [Old English nǣdre]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	adder - a person who adds numbers             calculator, estimator, figurer, reckoner, computer - an expert at calculation (or at operating calculating machines)
	2.	adder - a machine that adds numbers           calculating machine, calculator - a small machine that is used for mathematical calculations
	3.	adder - small terrestrial viper common in northern Eurasia common viper, Vipera berus viper - venomous Old World snakes characterized by hollow venom-conducting fangs in the upper jaw genus Vipera, Vipera - type genus of the Viperidae

Translations

adder [ˈædəʳ] n → víbora

adder [ˈædəʳ] n → vipère f

adder [ˈædəʳ] n → Kreuzotter f, Viper f

adder [ˈædəʳ] n → vipera