frog
/fɹɒɡ/ noun, verb
Forms frogs frogging frogged
- noun Any of a class of small tailless amphibians of the order Anura that typically hop.
- noun (often specifically, nontaxonomically) A member of this class that is not a toad.
- noun (music) The part of a violin bow (or that of other similar string instruments such as the viola, cello and contrabass) located at the end held by the player, to which the horsehair is attached.
- noun (Cockney rhyming slang) Synonym of road; clipping of less common frog and toad.
- noun The depression in the upper face of a pressed or handmade clay brick.
- noun An organ on the bottom of a horse’s hoof that assists in the circulation of blood.
- noun (rail transport) The part of a railway switch or turnout where the running rails cross (from the resemblance to the frog in a horse’s hoof).
- noun (rail transport) The part of a railroad overhead wire used to redirect a trolley pole from one wire to another at switches.
- verb To hunt or trap frogs.
- verb (transitive, biology) To use a pronged plater to transfer (cells) to another plate.
- verb (transitive, cooking) To spatchcock (a chicken).
- verb (intransitive) To lie sprawled out like a frog; sploot.
- noun (derogatory, ethnic slur) A French person.
- noun (Canada, offensive) A French-speaking person from Quebec.
- noun A leather or fabric loop used to attach a sword or bayonet, or its scabbard, to a waist or shoulder belt.
- noun An ornate fastener for clothing consisting of an oblong button, toggle, or knot, that fits through a loop.
- noun A device used to secure stems in a floral arrangement, also called a flower frog or kenzan.
- verb To ornament or fasten a coat, etc. with frogs.
- verb (ambitransitive) To unravel part of (a knitted garment), either to correct a mistake or to reclaim the thread or yarn.
- verb (ambitransitive, slang, mildly vulgar) To have sex with; fuck. “If you see a necktie hanging on the door, don't knock. I'll be in there frogging someone.”
Synonyms
anuran batrachian road common crossing baguette cheese-eating surrender monkey Frencher Frenchy toad toad frog salientian Gaul
Etymology
From Middle English frogge, from Old English frocga, from Proto-West Germanic *froggō (“frog”). Cognate with Old Norse frauki, and Old English frox, frosc, whence Modern English frosh and frosk (“frog”).
Possibly related to Saterland Frisian Poage (“frog”), German Low German Pogg, Pogge (“frog”).
Sense 5 (organ on a horse's hoof) is a calque of Ancient Greek βάτραχος (bátrakhos).
From frog legs, stereotypical food of the French. Compare Kraut (“German person”) and French rosbif (“English person”) (from roast beef), with similar food etymologies.
Unknown. Possibly borrowed from Portuguese froco (“flock”), from Latin floccus (“flock”).
Supposedly from ribbit (“sound made by a frog”) sounding similar to “rip it”.
Webster’s 1913
- noun 1. (Zoöl.) An amphibious animal of the genus Rana and related genera, of many species. Frogs swim rapidly, and take long leaps on land. Many of the species utter loud notes in the springtime.
- noun The triangular prominence of the hoof, in the middle of the sole of the foot of the horse, and other animals; the fourchette.
- verb To ornament or fasten (a coat, etc.) with trogs. See Frog, n., 4.
Etymology [AS. froggu, frocga a frog (in sensel); akin to D. vorsch, OHG. frosk, G. frosch, Icel. froskr, fraukr, Sw. & Dan. frö.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “frog”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details