bullfrog

[boo l-frog, -frawg]

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noun

a large frog, especially the North American Rana catesbeiana, having a deep voice.

Origin of bullfrog

1690–1700, Americanism; bull¹ + frog¹; so called from its size and voice

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for bullfrog

toad, bullfrog, croaker, caecilian, polliwog

Examples from the Web for bullfrog

Historical Examples of bullfrog

If he gets in Grasshopper, you score 20; if into Bullfrog, you score 30; and if into Kangaroo, 40.
Harper's Young People, February 22, 1881
Various
This is even more marked in the large tadpole of the bullfrog.
Cornell Nature-Study Leaflets
Various
But it was only a pickerel rising to his food or a bullfrog plunging in.
The Incendiary
W. A. (William Augustine) Leahy
Their bait was a bullfrog, or several small frogs in a bunch, for want of squid.
Cape Cod
Henry D. Thoreau
You look like the bullfrog on the bank and the pollywog in the pool.
The Motor Maids by Palm and Pine
Katherine Stokes

British Dictionary definitions for bullfrog

bullfrog

noun

any of various large frogs, such as Rana catesbeiana (American bullfrog), having a loud deep croak

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bullfrog

also bull-frog, 1738, from bull (n.1) + frog (n.1). So called for its voice.