polliwog
English
Alternative forms
- pollywog, polliwig, polliwiggle, pollywig, polwig, porriwiggle, purwiggy, porwigle, porwiggle
Etymology
From earlier polwigge, from Middle English polwygle, equal to poll (“head”) + wiggle.[1]
Noun
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!”
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References
- polliwog in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
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