n. [ See Add. ] One who, or that which, adds; esp., a machine for adding numbers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. addere, naddere, eddre, AS. nædre, adder, snake; akin to OS. nadra, OHG. natra, natara, Ger. natter, Goth. nadrs, Icel. naðr, masc., naðra, fem.: cf. W. neidr, Gorn. naddyr, Ir. nathair, L. natrix, water snake. An adder is for a nadder. ] 1. A serpent. [ Obs. ] “The eddre seide to the woman.” Wyclif. Gen. iii. 4. ) [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) (a) A small venomous serpent of the genus Vipera. The common European adder is the Vipera berus or Pelias berus. The puff adders of Africa are species of Clotho. (b) In America, the term is commonly applied to several harmless snakes, as the milk adder, puffing adder, etc. (c) Same as Sea Adder. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the sculptures the appellation is given to several venomous serpents, -- sometimes to the horned viper (Cerastles). [ 1913 Webster ]

A dragon fly. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) (a) A genus of ferns (Ophioglossum), whose seeds are produced on a spike resembling a serpent's tongue. (b) The yellow dogtooth violet. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) The common bistort or snakeweed (Polygonum bistorta). [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Anat.) An air sac, sometimes double or variously lobed, in the visceral cavity of many fishes. It originates in the same way as the lungs of air-breathing vertebrates, and in the adult may retain a tubular connection with the pharynx or esophagus. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A sac or bladder full of air in an animal or plant; also an air hole in a casting. [ 1913 Webster ]

compar. of Bad, a. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Perh. for Balderlocks, fr. Balder the Scandinavian deity. ] (Bot.) A large black seaweed (Alaria esculenta) sometimes eaten in Europe; -- also called murlins, honeyware, and henware. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. bladder, bleddre, AS. bl&aemacr_;dre, bl&aemacr_;ddre; akin to Icel. blaðra, SW. bläddra, Dan. blære, D. blaar, OHG. blātara the bladder in the body of animals, G. blatter blister, bustule; all fr. the same root as AS. blāwan, E. blow, to puff. See Blow to puff. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Anat.) A bag or sac in animals, which serves as the receptacle of some fluid; as, the urinary bladder; the gall bladder; -- applied especially to the urinary bladder, either within the animal, or when taken out and inflated with air. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any vesicle or blister, especially if filled with air, or a thin, watery fluid. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Bot.) A distended, membranaceous pericarp. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Anything inflated, empty, or unsound. “To swim with bladders of philosophy.” Rochester. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bladder nut, or
Bladder tree (Bot.), a genus of plants (Staphylea) with bladderlike seed pods. --
Bladder pod (Bot.), a genus of low herbs (Vesicaria) with inflated seed pods. --
Bladdor senna (Bot.), a genus of shrubs (Colutea), with membranaceous, inflated pods. --
Bladder worm (Zool.), the larva of any species of tapeworm (Tænia), found in the flesh or other parts of animals. See Measle, Cysticercus. --
Bladder wrack (Bot.), the common black rock weed of the seacoast (Fucus nodosus and Fucus vesiculosus) -- called also bladder tangle. See Wrack. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bladdered p. pr. & vb. n. Bladdering. ] 1. To swell out like a bladder with air; to inflate. [ Obs. ] G. Fletcher. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To put up in bladders; as, bladdered lard. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. similar to a bladder.
Syn. -- bladdery. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a medium-sized blackish-gray seal (Cystophora cristata) with a large inflatable sac on the head; of Arctic-Atlantic waters.
Syn. -- hooded seal. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. a North American wild lobelia (Lobelia inflata) having small blue flowers and inflated capsules formerly used as an antispasmodic.
Syn. -- Indian tobacco. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. any of a number of annual or perennial herbs with inflated seed pods; some are placed in the genus Lesquerella. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. any of several plants of the genus Physaria having racemose yellow flowers and inflated pods. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

4. any of several hairy North American herbs having yellow racemose flowers and inflated pods. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Bot.) A genus (Utricularia) of aquatic or marshy plants, which usually bear numerous vesicles in the divisions of the leaves. These serve as traps for minute animals. See Ascidium. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. similar to and found with black rockweed.
Syn. -- Ascophyllum nodosum. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. common black rockweed used in preparing kelp and as manure.
Syn. -- black rockweed, bladder fucus, tang, Fucus vesiculosus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Having bladders; also, resembling a bladder. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who roves about idly, a rambling gossip. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who makes glad. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Heather; heath. [ Obs. ] Burton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A firefighting truck equipped with a ladder extendable to great length, for access to the upper stories of buildings; it also carries other firefighting equipment; called also ladder truck. [ PJC ]

n. A company of firefighters who operate a hook-and-ladder truck; a fire company; called also ladder company. [ PJC ]

n. [ Cf. Caddow. ] (Zool.) The jackdaw.

n. [ OE. laddre, AS. hl&aemacr_;der, hl&aemacr_;dder; akin to OFries. hladder, OHG. leitara, G. leiter, and from the root of E. lean, v. √40. See Lean, v. i., and cf. Climax. ] 1. A frame usually portable, of wood, metal, or rope, for ascent and descent, consisting of two side pieces to which are fastened cross strips or rounds forming steps. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some the engines play,
And some, more bold, mount ladders to the fire. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which resembles a ladder in form or use; hence, that by means of which one attains to eminence; as, to climb the corporate ladder. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

Lowliness is young ambition's ladder. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fish ladder. See under Fish. --
Ladder beetle (Zool.), an American leaf beetle (Chrysomela scalaris). The elytra are silvery white, striped and spotted with green; the under wings are rose-colored. It feeds upon the linden tree. --
Ladder handle, an iron rail at the side of a vertical fixed ladder, to grasp with the hand in climbing. --
Ladder shell (Zool.), a spiral marine shell of the genus Scalaria. See Scalaria. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a chair with a ladder-back{ 2 }.
Syn. -- ladder-back chair. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. a chair backrest consisting of 2 uprights with several connecting slats. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. Having horizontal stripes on the back, reminiscent of a ladder; -- used of birds; as, a ladder-backed woodpecker. [ PJC ]

adj. resistant to runs or (in Britain) ladders; -- of hosiery.
Syn. -- runproof, run-resistant. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. Same as hook-and-ladder company, hook-and-ladder truck. [ PJC ]

n. [ OE. mader, AS. maedere; akin to Icel. maðra. ] (Bot.) A plant of the genus Rubia (Rubia tinctorum). The root is much used in dyeing red, and formerly was used in medicine. It is cultivated in France and Holland. See Rubiaceous. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Madder is sometimes used in forming pigments, as lakes, etc., which receive their names from their colors, such as madder yellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

Field madder, an annual European weed (Sherardia arvensis) resembling madder. --
Indian madder , the East Indian Rubia cordifolia, used in the East for dyeing; -- called also munjeet. --
Wild madder, Rubia peregrina of Europe; also the Galium Mollugo, a kind of bedstraw. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A widely distributed natural family of mostly tropical trees and shrubs and herbs including coffee; chinchona; gardenia; madder; bedstraws; nd partridgeberry.
Rubiaceae, family Rubiaceae, madder family -- [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Bot.) A name proposed for any plant of the same natural order (Rubiaceae) as the madder. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. naedre. See Adder. ] An adder. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, pads. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A highwayman; a footpad. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Sadda. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Zool.) (a) The European fifteen-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus spinachia); -- called also bismore. (b) The European tanglefish, or pipefish (Syngnathus acus). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A portable set of steps. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Zool.) (a) The water moccasin. (b) The common, harmless American water snake (Tropidonotus sipedon). See Illust. under Water Snake. [ 1913 Webster ]