Definition of "adder"

(obsolete) Any snake.  quotations

A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling the viper.

1. (chiefly Britain) A small venomous serpent of the genus Vipera  quotations

   Quotations

   • Entirely filled with the image of another, her heart, indeed, had the deaf ear of the adder, which heedeth not the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely.

     1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), page 245

   • These include the county's [Cumbria's] only venomous snake - the adder - which relies on exposed elements to successfully breed its young.

     2021 August 25, Nick Brodrick, “Flourishing Flora and Fauna”, in RAIL, number 938, page 51

   1. The common European adder (Vipera berus).  examples

2. The puff adders, of Africa (genus Bitis).  examples

3. (US, Canada) Any of several small nonvenomous snakes resembling adders

   1. Lampropeltis triangulum (milk snake).  examples

   2. Heterodon spp. (hog-nosed snakes), a genus of harmless colubrid snakes found in North America  examples

4. Certain venomous snakes resembling other adders

   1. Acanthophis spp. (death adders), elapid snakes found in Southeast Asia and Australia  examples

   2. Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen, the northern copperhead, a venomous viper found in the eastern United States  examples

5. A sea stickleback or adder fish (Spinachia spinachia).  examples

Someone who or something which performs arithmetic addition; a machine for adding numbers.  examples

An electronic device that adds voltages, currents or frequencies.  examples

Something which adds or increases.  examples