Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
×

An Encyclopædia Britannica Company

puff adder

noun

Definition of puff adder

  1. 1 :  a large thick-bodied extremely venomous African viper (Bitis arietans)

  2. 2 :  hognose snake

See puff adder defined for kids

Explore Merriam-Webster

ghost-being-disinvited-from-party
'Disinvite' or 'Uninvite'?
alt-5970fcc51169b
Trending: An Interview Full of 'Non sequiturs'
video-title-words-of-the-year-1066
Words of the Year: 1066
image386126722
Words That Come From the Dinner Table

First Known Use of puff adder

1789

Medical Dictionary

puff adder

noun

Medical Definition of puff adder

  1. :  a large thick-bodied exceedingly venomous widely distributed African viper (Bitis arietans) that inflates its body and hisses loudly when disturbed; also :  a similar smaller snake (B. inornata) of southern Africa

Learn More about puff adder

  1. See words that rhyme with puff adder Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about puff adder

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up puff adder? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show hide

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

WORD OF THE DAY

gauche

play

lacking social experience or grace

Get Word of the Day daily email!

TRENDING NOW

  1. non sequitur “It does not follow”

  2. admiral's mast A massive search ends with an 'admiral's mast'.

  3. calumny 'An untrue statement that is made to damage someone's reputation'

  4. kakistocracy Frustrated Twitter users have been searching for this word.

  5. bona fide Made in good faith

SEE ALL

BROWSE DICTIONARY

puff adder

Test Your Vocabulary

The Emoji Quiz

  • emoji-the-quiz
  • What phase of the moon is this: 🌖 ?
Spell It

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

TAKE THE QUIZ
SCRABBLE® Sprint

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Words at Play

image386126722
Words and Phrases That Come from the Dinner Table

Fill your plate with these surprising food words

ghost-being-disinvited-from-party
'Disinvite' or 'Uninvite'?

A disinvited guest is an uninvited problem

alt-596f730ceb5ae
Words We're Watching: 'Scoby'

Kombucha lovers unite.

alt-596e1a928254c
Words We're Watching: 'Fidget Spinner'

Don't fight the fad

Ask the Editors

video-title-words-of-the-year-1066
Words of the Year: 1066

Or, Why Pig Meat is Called 'Pork' and Cow Meat is Called 'Beef'

payday
How Often Is 'Biweekly'?

Don't get us started on 'bimonthly'

video-irregardless-grammar-peeve-blend-of-the-synonyms-irrespective-and-regardless
Irregardless

It is in fact a real word (but that doesn't mean you should use it).

video-moose-goose-weird-plurals
Weird Plurals

One goose, two geese. One moose, two... moose. What's up with that?

Word Games

emoji-the-quiz
The Emoji Quiz

Think you’re an emoji 👓 expert? Let’s see 🤔

Take the quiz
image941935269
A Game of Thrones Word Quiz

In the Game of Thrones quiz, you learn some new vocabulary. (It’s quite safe, really. You will not die.)

Take the quiz
Spell It
Spell It

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

Take the quiz
SCRABBLE® Sprint
SCRABBLE® Sprint

SCRABBLE® fans, sharpen your skills!

Play the game