An
adder is a name for the common
viper (
Vipera cevus), ranging
from Wales to Saghalien island, and from Caithness to the north
of Spain. The puff-adder (
Bitis s. Echidna arietans) of
nearly the whole of Africa, and the death-adder (
Acanthophis
antarcticus
) from Australia to the Moluccas, are both very
poisonous.
Etymology: The word was in Old Eng. noedre,
later nadder or naddre; in the 14th century a nadder
was, like a napron, wrongly divided into an adder. It
appears with the generic meaning of serpent in the older
forms of many Teutonic languages, cf. Old High Ger. natra;
Goth. nadrs. It is thus used in the Old English version of
the Christian Scriptures for the devil, the serpent of Genesis.
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed
An
adder is an
electronic device that adds three
bits. One that adds only two bits is a
half-adder.
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