toadpole

English

Etymology

Blend of toad +‎ tadpole

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtoʊdpoʊl/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtəʊdpoʊl/

Noun

toadpole (plural toadpoles)

1. A young toad in its larval stage of development that lives in water, has a tail and no legs, and, like a fish, breathes through gills.
   • 1963, Hermann Stieve, Zeitschrift für mikroskopisch-anatomische Forschung‎^[1], volume 70, Academische Verslagsgesellschaft Geest & Portig K.-G., page 149:

     Toadpole Toad after metamorphosis 40g

     Toadpole Toad after metamorphosis 40g

   • 1970, Harvey W. Mohrenweiser, Role of Hormones in Controlling Ribonucleic Acid Synthesis During Lactogenesis‎^[2], Michigan State University. Departments of Biochemistry and Dairy, page 36:

     secondly, in many hormone-target organ interactions including the effect of estrogen on rat uterus, growth hormone and hydrocortisone on rat liver and thyroid hormone on toadpole liver, newly formed microsomes have been isolated which have increased protein synthesizing ability (Tata, 1968).

   • 1984, Phil Murphy, Summer Island‎^[3], Oberon Press, →ISBN, page 113:

     Ah, if only I could swim as well as that! Like a fish . . . or anyway, a toadpole.”)

   • 1989, Okot p'Bitek, “Section 3”, in White Teeth‎^[4], reprint edition, Heinemann Kenya, →ISBN, page 29:

     Her stomach was swollen, and she was only a bag of bones, with a large head like a toadpole in the Oitino stream.

   • 2003 November 19, Peter Cook, “The Tadpole Expert”, in William W. Cook, editor, Tragically I Was an Only Twin: The Complete Peter Cook‎^[5], illustrated, reprint edition, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 63:

     I call them the toadpole and the frogpole. Now the only way to distinguish between the two is that the toadpole tends to turn into a toad, whereas the frogpole will tend to turn into a frog.

   • 2006, Charlie Shanian, Shari Simpson, Maybe Baby, It's You‎^[6], Dramatic Publishing, →ISBN, page 20:

     VINNY. Yo, Mrs. B., I just made the incision on the toadpole! Were you watchin'?

   • 2011 July 11, Anil, “Sounds Alike Fun”, in HOW TO DOUBLE THE MEANING OF LIFE‎^[7], Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 156:

     toadfrog left bog whole log shagooon 'gooon toadpole go on happening go on frogging toard toadfrog Happening tail gone tale told tailless gate eggs mate

   • 2018 July 5, Adrian Thomas, “Gardening for Reptiles and Amphibians”, in RSPB Gardening for Wildlife: New edition‎^[8], 2, illustrated edition, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 101:

     Females then stay in the pond just long enough to lay their eggs. Each female can lay up to 8,000 eggs. The eggs hatch after 10-20 days into toadpoles, which are black and gregarious; they then metamorphose and leave the pond when only just over 1cm long.

   • 2022 October 18, Patrick Chamoiseau, edited by Valérie Loichot, Crusoe’s Footprint‎^[9], University of Virginia Press, →ISBN:

     […] leaving all consistency of aside, I fancied myself a crab, an octopus in an octopus hole, the young octopuses in a consortium of of octopuses; I found myself playing toadpole in the bubbles of the sludge; but the worst part arose when I reached the immutable point of being absent from myself; my gaze would then settle upon nothing, it captured solely the luminous halo of the things around me; I began to sniff, to grunt, and to lend my ear toward my surroundings; […]