Word.ws English Dictionary

deaf adder

deaf adder noun: a slowworm.

Noun

deaf adder (plural deaf adders)

  1. (UK) A slowworm.
  2. (Australia) A death adder.
    • Our deaf adder resembles, in its short, puffy, repulsive appearance, the blow-adder of America.1828, Peter Miller Cunningham, Two Years in New South Wales, third edition, volume 1, London: Henry Colburn, page 319
    • The death, or deaf adder, is an ugly creature, and is considered highly dangerous.1833, William Henry Breton, Excursions in New South Wales, Western Australia, and Van Dieman's Land, During the Years 1830, 1831, 1832 and 1833, London: Richard Bentley, page 264

Examples of deaf adder in a sentence

  • Another friend on a cruise, put his saddle down for a pillow at night as usual, and on lifting up the saddle-flaps the next morning, he observed a beastly deaf adder lying flat down.1846, Christopher Pemberton Hodgson, Reminiscences of Australia, with Hints on the Squatter's Life, London: W. N. Wright; Simpkin and...
  • Snakes of various sizes, from two to ten feet in length, including, perhaps, the venomous deaf adder1852, R. G. Jameson, Australia and Her Gold Regions, New York: Cornish, Lamport & Co., page 45:
  • The deaf adder is the most formidable “varmint” in Australia.1853, Ellen Clacy, A Lady’s Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia, in 1852–53, London: Hurst and Blackett, page 250:

Forms of deaf adder

pluraldeaf adders
alternative formdeaf-adder

Words formed from deaf adder

  • Deaf Adder Creek
  • Deaf Adder Gorge

Questions about deaf adder

What does deaf adder mean?
Deaf adder means a slowworm.
How do you use deaf adder in a sentence?
Another friend on a cruise, put his saddle down for a pillow at night as usual, and on lifting up the saddle-flaps the next morning, he observed a beastly deaf adder lying flat down.
What part of speech is deaf adder?
Deaf adder is a noun.
What is the plural of deaf adder?
The plural of deaf adder is deaf adders.

Words near deaf adder in the dictionary

  1. deaeration
  2. deaerations
  3. deaerator
  4. deaerators
  5. deaf
  6. deaf adder
  7. deaf adders
  8. deaf aid
  9. deaf aids
  10. deaf and dumb
  11. deaf as a doorknob

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: deaf adder (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “deaf adder.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/deaf_adder. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.