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definitions

polliwog

or pol·ly·wog

[ pol-ee-wog ]
/ ˈpɒl iˌwɒg /
|
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR polliwog ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a tadpole.

RELATED WORDS

frog, toad, sycophant, peeper, salientian, anuran, tadpole, bullfrog, croaker, caecilian

Nearby words

  1. pollinic,
  2. polliniferous,
  3. pollinium,
  4. pollinize,
  5. pollinosis,
  6. pollo,
  7. pollock,
  8. pollock, jackson,
  9. pollock, sir frederick,
  10. pollster

Origin of polliwog

1400–50; variant of polliwig, earlier polwigge, late Middle English polwygle. See poll1, wiggle
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for polliwog

  • The result was one of those quick india-rubber scuffles fearful to behold, but delightful to human nature in its polliwog state.

    Hans Brinker|Mary Mapes Dodge

  • The result was one of those quick India-rubber scuffles fearful to behold but delightful to human nature in its polliwog state.

    Hans Brinker|Mary Mapes Dodge

  • Old forms of polliwog are pollywig, polewiggle, and 242 pollwiggle.

    The Log of the Sun|William Beebe

  • The chatter of society has succeeded that of the goose and the polliwog.

    'Charge It'|Irving Bacheller

British Dictionary definitions for polliwog

polliwog

pollywog

/ (ˈpɒlɪˌwɒɡ) /

noun

British dialect, US and Canadian another name for tadpole
informal a sailor who has not crossed the equatorCompare shellback

Word Origin for polliwog

C15 polwygle; see poll, wiggle
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 polliwog

polliwog

n.

"tadpole," mid-15c., polwygle, probably from pol "head" (see poll (n.)) + wiglen "to wiggle" (see wiggle (v.)). Modern spelling is 1830s, replacing earlier polwigge.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper