bullfrogn.
The name given to certain large American frogs, esp. Rana pipiens, a species 6 or 8 inches long, which has a voice not unlike that of a bull.
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the world > animals > amphibians > order Anura or Salienta (frogs and toads) > [noun] > types of frog or toad > suborder Diplasiocoela > family Ranidae (common frogs) > rana pipiens (leopard frog)
bullfrog1704
bull-toad1806
leopard frog1839
1704 J. Petiver Gazophylacii iii. xxv Rana Caroliniana maxima, voce Taurino [sic]. The American Bull-Frog.
1705 R. Beverley Hist. Virginia (1722) iv. 260 In the swamps and running Streams, they have Frogs of an incredible bigness, which are called Bull-frogs, from the roaring they make.
1739 Philos. Trans. 1737–8 (Royal Soc.) 40 348 The Bull-Frog. This hath its English Name from its Noise, which seems not unlike the Bellowing of a Bull at a Distance.
1791 ‘P. Pindar’ Lousiad: Canto III 6 The bull-frog's snore.
1824 W. Irving Tales of Traveller (1849) 384 The bull-frog croaked dolefully from a neighboring pool.
1855 H. W. Longfellow Hiawatha ix. 117 The bull-frog, the Dahinda, Thrust his head into the moonlight.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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n.1704