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bullfrog

[boo l-frog, -frawg]
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noun
  1. a large frog, especially the North American Rana catesbeiana, having a deep voice.
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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. 2018

Related Words

toadbullfrogcroakercaecilianpolliwog

Examples from the Web for bullfrog

Historical Examples

  • 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.

  • 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.

British Dictionary definitions for bullfrog

bullfrog

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

n.

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

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper