(a) A serpent, a snake; (b) water ~, a serpent that lives in water; ~ eiren, snake eggs; ~ fot, serpent-footed; ~ hedes, ~ skin; etc.; (c) with reference or allusion to Gen.3. 1-5: the serpent in the Garden of Eden; the Devil; old ~, the Devil; ~ iliche (liche, liknesse, wede) the appearance or shape of a serpent; (d) a representation of a serpent, esp. the bronze serpent made by Moses [cp. Num. 21.8, 9]; brasen (æren) ~; (e) a flying serpent; a dragon.

(a) A venomous snake; a viper, an adder; a member of one of various European and North African species of the viper family Viperinae, including the common European viper Vipera berus, the asp Vipera aspis, and the Biblical 'asp'; (b) def (domb) ~, ~ def, a deaf adder [cp. L aspidis surdæ, Ps.58.4]; horned ~, the horned viper, cerastes Cerastes cornutus; stinginge ~, a biting serpent; ~ bitinge (slitte, slittinge), the bite of a venomous snake; ~ gras, adder's grass, some plant of the genus Ophioglossum; ~ kin, the species of venomous serpents; (c) fig. a deceitful or malicious person; naddre(s kindel, offspring of a viper; naddre(s stren, generation of vipers; etc.; (d) fig. as a symbol of envy or treachery.

(a) In plant names: ~ wort (q.v.); naddres wort, = naddre-wort; ~ gras, probably bistort Polygonum bistorta, also known as snakeweed or snakegrass [see OED s.v. adder's grass, n.]; in some cases possibly simply a variant of naddre-wort, q.v.; (b) in place names [see Smith PNElem. 2.48].