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deaf as a post



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Idioms and Phrases

Also, deaf as an adder . Unable to hear or to listen, as in Speak louder, Grandpa's deaf as a post . The first simile has its origin in John Palsgrave's Acolastus (1540): “How deaf an ear I intended to give him ... he were as good to tell his tale to a post.” It has largely replaced deaf as an adder , alluding to an ancient belief that adders cannot hear; it is recorded in the Bible (Psalms 58:3–5).

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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