English Explanatory Dictionary

water adder

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Any of several aquatic snakes (none of which are true adders) including, among others:
  2. A non-venomous European ringed snake or water snake (Natrix natrix).
  3. A venomous American cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus).
  4. A non-venomous American northern water snake (Nerodia sipedon)
  5. A venomous South Asian crab-eating water snake (Fordonia leucobalia)

Word forms

water adder water adders water-adder wateradder

Etymology

From Middle English water addre, watyradyr, watir edyr, alteration (see adder) of water neddyr, watyrnedyre, from Old English wæternædre, wæternǣdre, equivalent to water + adder. Cognate with Dutch wateradder (“wateradder”), German Wassernatter (“watersnake”).

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on W Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary