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.

Noun

polliwog (plural polliwogs)

1. (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