blauser

blauser n Also blauzer-snake, blozzard [Du blazer blower] chiefly NY old-fash Cf blower (at blow snake n), blowing adder n, blowing viper n

= hognose snake n (here: Heterodon platirhinos).

1842 DeKay Zool. NY 3.52, This well known species [=the hognose snake] has a venomous aspect, . . but is entirely harmless. In this State, it has various popular names: Blauser, by the early Dutch settlers, from its habit of distending or blowing up the skin of its head and neck. 1855 Haliburton Nature 1.236, He again approached the glass and again retreated . . , groaning like a thousand sinners, and swelled out about the head and throat like a startled blauzer-snake. 1882 Geol. Surv. OH Report 4.686, Heterodon platyrhinus rejoices in a multitude of common names, such as Spreading, Deaf, and Blowing Adder, Flat-head, Hog- and Buckwheat-nose Snake, Blauser, Blowing, and Sand Viper, etc. 1919 Kingston Daily Freeman (NY) 19 Nov 6/3 seNY, The comedian of the serpent family of this region is the Heteredon [sic] platyrhinus, variously termed Hog Nose Snake, Spreading Adder, Blowing Adder, Flat Head Adder and Blauser. 1951 NY Folkl. Qrly. 7.109 ceNY, The task was made easier when I found that practically all mysterious snakes were hog-nosed snakes, who have a special interest since the name given to them by the Dutch settlers— “blauser” or “blozzard”— is still in use. 1979 NYT Article Letters eNY, I once heard a man from Ulster Co. NY, (about 1940) call a puff adder snake a “blauser.” He was descended from Dutch settlers there, and the Dutch word for puff adder was “blauser.”