polliwog
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- polliwag, pollywog, polliwig, polliwiggle, pollywig, polwig, porriwiggle, purwiggy, porwigle, porwiggle
Etymology
[edit]From earlier polwigge, from Middle English polwygle, equal to poll (“head”) + wiggle.[1]
Noun
[edit]polliwog (plural polliwogs)
- (US, dialectal) A tadpole.
- 1897, L. Frank Baum, “The Story of Tommy Tucker”, in Mother Goose in Prose:
- So Tommy sang the following verse: “The cold got worse, The frog got hoarse, Till croaking he scared a polliwog!”
Translations
[edit]tadpole — see tadpole
References
[edit]- ^ “polliwog”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.