toad

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  The Pigeon Toad
• WordNet 3.6
  • n toad any of various tailless stout-bodied amphibians with long hind limbs for leaping; semiaquatic and terrestrial species
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Additional illustrations & photos:

Dissection of the Garden Toad

Skeleton of the garden toad

Toad and baby

• Interesting fact: It is possible to get high by licking a toad. The Cane Toad produces a toxin called bufotenine to ward off predators. When licked, this toxin acts as a hallucinogen
• • n Toad (Zoöl) Any one of numerous species of batrachians belonging to the genus Bufo and allied genera, especially those of the family Bufonidæ. Toads are generally terrestrial in their habits except during the breeding season, when they seek the water. Most of the species burrow beneath the earth in the daytime and come forth to feed on insects at night. Most toads have a rough, warty skin in which are glands that secrete an acrid fluid.☞ The common toad (Bufo vulgaris) and the natterjack are familiar European species. The common American toad (Bufo lentiginosus) is similar to the European toad, but is less warty and is more active, moving chiefly by leaping.
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• Interesting fact: Unlike a frog a toad cannot jump
• • n toad A batrachian or amphibian of the family Bufonidæ or some related family. Toads are generally distinguished among the salient tailless batrachians from the frogs, in that they are not aquatic (except when breeding), and lack the symmetry and agility of frogs; but the strong technical differences between the bufoniform and raniform amphibians are not always reflected in the various applications of these popular names. (Compare the common use of frog and toad in tree-frog, tree-toad, and in nurse-frog and obstetrical toad.) Toads have a stout clumsy body more or less covered with warts, generally large parotoids (see cut under parotoid), no teeth, the hind feet scarcely or not webbed, and the hind limbs not fitted for extensive leaping. They are perfectly harmless, notwithstanding many popular superstitions to the contrary. They feed mainly on insects, and some are quite useful in gardens. They are tenacious of life, like most reptiles, but there is no truth in the stories of their living in solid rock. The fable of the jewel in the toad's head may have some basis of fact in the piece of glistening cartilage which represents an unossified basioccipital. There are numerous kinds of toads, found in nearly all parts of the world. They are mostly of the genus Bufo, as well as of the family Bufonidæ, though several other families include species to which the popular name applies. In Europe the common toad is B. vulgaris; the rush-toad or natterjack is B. calamita. The commonest, toad of America is B. lentiginosus, which sports in many color-variations. See phrases below, and cuts under tadpole, Brachycephalus, Hylaplesia, and agua-toad.
  • n toad Figuratively, a person as an object of disgust or aversion: also used in deprecating or half-affectionate raillery. Compare toadling.
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• Interesting fact: Texas horned toads can shoot blood out of the corners or their eyes.
• • n Toad tōd a genus of amphibians, typical of the family Bufonidæ, represented in Britain by two species—the Common Toad and the Natterjack
  • adj Toad sycophantic
  • v.t Toad to fawn as a sycophant:—pa.t. and pa.p. toad′ied
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• William Shakespeare

  

  “Sweet are the uses of adversity which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head.”
• Ambrose Bierce

  

  “Edible. Good to eat and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm.”
• William Shakespeare

  

  “I had rather be a toad, and live upon the vapor of a dungeon than keep a corner in the thing I love for others uses.”
• Philip Larkin

  

  “Why should I let the toad work Squat on my life? Can't I use my wit as a pitchfork and drive the brute off?”

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