Other forms: toads
A toad is a squat rough-skinned relative of the frog. A common toad, toads in the garden, warty toad.
It has dry warty skin and walks rather than leaping, where a frog is smooth and jumps — and toads do not cause warts, which is folklore. Their skin secretes toxins, so dogs that mouth one salivate heavily. Toads return to the pond they hatched in to breed. Note toadstool, and toady, meaning a flatterer.
1nountoadA squat rough-skinned amphibian.
“A fat brown toad sat in the damp corner of the garden shed.”
toad is an animal.
Old English tadie names the animal. Its origin beyond English is unknown.
Old English
*tāde
Middle English
tode
English, today
toad
Built from
From Middle English tode, toode, tadde, tade, from Old English tāde, a shortened variant of Old English tādie, tādiġe (“toad”). Cognate with Scots tade, taid, taed, ted (“toad”). Compare also Danish tudse (“toad”), possibly originally from the same prehistoric root; also Swedish tåssa, tossa (“toad”), Old English tāxe (“toad”), Old English tosca (“toad”) by contrast.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA