adder stone

noun

Etymology

From adder + stone. The word is attested since the late 16th century, its earliest use being found in a work by Arthur Golding (c. 1536 – 1606). The perforation was imagined to be made by the sting of an adder.

  1. derived from *steyh₂- — “to stiffen
  2. inherited from *stainaz — “stone
  3. inherited from *stain
  4. inherited from stān
  5. inherited from ston
  6. compounded as adder stone — “adder + stone

Definitions

  1. A stone of varying forms and usually glassy with a naturally formed hole, which is often…

    A stone of varying forms and usually glassy with a naturally formed hole, which is often used as an amulet or bead.

    • Adder stones are supposed to be efficacious against disease of cattle.
    • An adder stone is a type of stone, usually glassy, with a naturally occurring hole through it.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for adder stone. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA