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!”

Translations

tadpole — see tadpole

References

“polliwog”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

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