polliwog

Or pol·ly·wog

[pol-ee-wog]

noun

1. a tadpole.

polliwog

/ ˈpɒlɪˌwɒɡ /

noun

1. dialect,  another name for tadpole

2. informal,  a sailor who has not crossed the equator Compare shellback

Word History and Origins

Origin of polliwog¹

First recorded in 1400–50; variant of polliwig, earlier polwigge, late Middle English polwygle; poll ¹, wiggle

Word History and Origins

Origin of polliwog¹

C15 polwygle; see _poll , _wiggle

Example Sentences

Among the masses of fauna, the pigeon occupies a rung on the human scale of fuzzy affection somewhere between a common garden slug and the lesser polliwog.

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It’s about 4.5 acres that straddles the curve through Frogtown where the bottom of the concrete channel has broken up and nature has burst forth, allowing polliwogs to swim.

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But for Metz, the amphibians are more than decorative driving companions; each and every grown-up polliwog is a little stuffed conversation starter.

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Alongside far more familiar polliwogs and salamander larvae, fairy shrimp swim upside down, rhythmically beating abdominal appendages that double as gills while they strain nearly microscopic sustenance from the water.

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“We liked playing there, catching polliwogs. We’d get into ponds and mud. It was a good place,” he says.

Read more on Seattle Times

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