adder stone
nounEtymology 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
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.1918, Astra Cielo, Signs, Omens and Superstitions, New York, N.Y.: George Sully and Company, →OCLC, page 63:
- These adder stones were actually old beads found about the countryside, but the Druids claimed that they were produced by a group reproductive effort of a summer congress of adders, and held some of the magic of the parent snakes. Adder stones strengthened their owners in legal disputes and helped them get access to kings.1963, Archie Carr, The Reptiles, New York, N.Y.: Time-Life Books, →OCLC, page 149:
2 more examples
- An adder stone is a type of stone, usually glassy, with a naturally occurring hole through it.2014, Mark Rogers, The Esoteric Codex: Magic Objects I, [Raleigh, N.C.]: Lulu Press, Inc., page 15:
- I saw a flash on the stony hill on the other side of the pool, as if a mirror were reflecting the light cast by the hole in Dr. Hassan′s adder stone.2015, Colleen Houck, Reawakened, New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, →ISBN:
- Synonyms
- adder bead, hag stone, self-bored stone, serpent's egg, snake's egg, snakestone, witch stone