adder

[A.S. nædre = an adder, the form adder having arisen from the wrong division of the article and the noun, a næddre, an æddre; Dut. adder = a viper; Icel. nadhr, nadhra; Goth. nadrs; Wel. neider; Lat. natrix = a water-snake.] [NATRIX.] IMG:content-0154.jpg:[blocks in formation] triangular head and a short tail. It rarely exceeds two feet in length. It is the only poisonous reptile in Britain. The common snake ( Coluber natriz), which is sometimes confounded with it, may be distinguished by having a longer tail, and what looks like a yellowish-white collar around its neck. The minute wounds made by an adder-bite should be promptly sucked and the poison spat out, after which they should be bathed with olive oil, and ammonia administered internally. "It is the bright day that brings forth the adder; And that craves wary walking." Shakesp. Julius Cæsar, ii. 1. 2. In Scripture: An appellation given to four probably venomous snakes: (a) ( achshub ), Gr. ἀσπις ( aspis ) = the viper (Bochart, .) or the puff adder (Col. Hamilton Smith), Ps. cxl. 3, quoted in Rom. iii. 13, where the reptile is called the asp. )6( פתן ) pethen ), Ps. lviii. 5; xci. 13 = the "asp" of Deut. xxxii. 33; Job xx. 14, 16; Isa. xi. 8. It may be the Naia haje (Dr. Lindsay Alexander, .). IMG:content-0155.png:[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small] 1. Any serpent of the extended Linnæan genus Coluber. ( Griffith's Cuvier , ix. 256, 331.) 2. Plural. Adders : The name given by Haeckel's translator to the Agly pho dont a, a sub-order of Serpents. 3. An animal, plant, or anything more or le closely resembling the adder described under No. 1. (See the compounds below.) adder-bead, s. [ADDER-STONE.] ( Scotch .) adder-bolt, adder-fly, 8. A name sometimes given to various species of dragonflies.