tadpole

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tadpole

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egg and three stages of a tadpole metamorphosing into a frog

tad·pole

(tăd′pōl′)

The aquatic larva of a frog or toad, having gills, a long, laterally compressed tail, and in early stages, no limbs. During metamorphosis of a tadpole into an adult, legs and lungs develop, and the tail gradually disappears. Also called polliwog.

[Middle English taddepol : tadde, tode, toad; see toad + pol, head; see poll.]

Word History: The word tadpole, which first appears in English in the 1400s, is an old compound word whose meaning is no longer transparent. Tad is a variant of the word toad, while pole is simply an alternative spelling of poll, meaning "head." Tadpole thus means "a toad that is all head," so to speak. Nowadays, the original meaning of the word poll, "head," is most prominent in poll tax, "a tax consisting of a fixed amount and levied on all individuals," a kind of tax that also often used to be called a head tax. (In modern times, poll taxes are most often levied on adults eligible to vote.) The most common senses of poll today are probably "a survey of public opinion" and "the place where votes are cast." The word probably developed these senses at least partly through the notion of the head as the most prominent part of each individual in a crowd—the part that could be counted. A similar notion is found in the phrase "a head of cattle."

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

tadpole

(ˈtædˌpəʊl)

(Animals) the aquatic larva of frogs, toads, etc, which develops from a limbless tailed form with external gills into a form with internal gills, limbs, and a reduced tail

[C15 taddepol, from tadde toad + pol head, poll]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

tad•pole

(ˈtæd poʊl)

n.

the aquatic larva of frogs and toads, having internal gills and a tail.

[1400–50; late Middle English tad(de)pol=tad(de) toad + pol poll]

tadpole

development of a frog from a fertilized egg through several tadpole stages

tad·pole

(tăd′pōl′)

The larval stage of a frog or toad. A tadpole lives in the water, has a tail and gills, and has no limbs. The tail and gills disappear as the legs and lungs develop on the way to the adult stage.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

tadpole - a larval frog or toad

polliwog, pollywog

amphibia, class Amphibia - the class of vertebrates that live on land but breed in water; frogs; toads; newts; salamanders; caecilians

larva - the immature free-living form of most invertebrates and amphibians and fish which at hatching from the egg is fundamentally unlike its parent and must metamorphose

Translations

شُرْغوف: فَرْخ الضَّفْدَعفَرْخُ الضِّفْدِع

pulec

haletudse

Kaulquappe

γυρίνος

ranido

renacuajo

بچه قورباغه

nuijapääsammakonpoikanen

têtard

ראשן

punoglavac

békaporontyebihal

berudu

halakarta

girino

おたまじゃくし

올챙이

ranularanunculus

buožgalvis

kurkulis

mormoloc

žubrienka

paglavec

grodyngel

ลูกกบ

iribaşkurbağa yavrusu

con nòng nọcnọc nọcnòng nọc

蝌蚪

tadpole

[ˈtædpəʊl] N → renacuajo m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

tadpole

[ˈtædpəʊl] n → têtard m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

tadpole

n → Kaulquappe f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

tadpole

[ˈtædˌpəʊl] n → girino

tadpole

(ˈtӕdpəul) noun

a young frog or toad in its first stage of development.

tadpole

→ فَرْخُ الضِّفْدِع pulec haletudse Kaulquappe γυρίνος renacuajo sammakonpoikanen têtard punoglavac girino オタマジャクシ 올챙이 kikkervisje rumpetroll kijanka girino головастик grodyngel ลูกกบ iribaş con nòng nọc 蝌蚪

References in classic literature ?

When he was tired he lay face-downward on the grass and watched the eager scurrying of minnows and of tadpoles. It gave him a peculiar satisfaction to saunter round the precincts.

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(more especially when we are so active in his service as we are), since he fails not the midges of the air, nor the grubs of the earth, nor the tadpoles of the water, and is so merciful that he maketh his sun to rise on the good and on the evil, and sendeth rain on the unjust and on the just."

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Snails clung to the sides of the tank; tadpoles and tiny fish swam swiftly in the green water, slippery efts and slimy frogs twined their noiseless way in and out of the weedy rock-work; and on top of the pyramid there sat solitary, cold as the stone, brown as the stone, motionless as the stone, a little bright-eyed toad.

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And so it ends in your spoiling canvas with paints, and making a smell in the house; or in keeping tadpoles in a glass box full of dirty water, and turning everybody's stomach in the house; or in chipping off bits of stone here, there, and everywhere, and dropping grit into all the victuals in the house; or in staining your fingers in the pursuit of photography, and doing justice without mercy on everybody's face in the house.

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"Did you ever taste water from a stagnant pool full of tadpoles?" Bradley asked.

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I love to see that Nature is so rife with life that myriads can be afforded to be sacrificed and suffered to prey on one another; that tender organizations can be so serenely squashed out of existence like pulp -- tadpoles which herons gobble up, and tortoises and toads run over in the road; and that sometimes it has rained flesh and blood!

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This dreadful threat had the desired effect, and through the two remaining fields the three pair of small legs trotted on without any serious interruption, notwithstanding a small pond full of tadpoles, alias "bullheads," which the lads looked at wistfully.

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"You see," continued Helen to her cousin, "the Wilcoxes collect houses as your Victor collects tadpoles. They have, one, Ducie Street; two, Howards End, where my great rumpus was; three, a country seat in Shropshire; four, Charles has a house in Hilton; and five, another near Epsom; and six, Evie will have a house when she marries, and probably a pied-a-terre in the country--which makes seven.

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I remember the field and the pond with the tadpoles, and making haystacks with Mr.

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He had besides the things before mentioned, twelve marbles, part of a jews-harp, a piece of blue bottle-glass to look through, a spool cannon, a key that wouldn't unlock anything, a fragment of chalk, a glass stopper of a decanter, a tin soldier, a couple of tadpoles, six fire-crackers, a kitten with only one eye, a brass door- knob, a dog-collar -- but no dog -- the handle of a knife, four pieces of orange-peel, and a dilapidated old window sash.

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The cachalot is a disagreeable creature, more tadpole than fish, according to Fredol's description.

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Gott!"--he stifled a vehement yawn--"What a Cockney tadpole of a ruffian you look!"

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