What (who) is tadpole - definition

LARVA OF AMPHIBIANS

Polliwog; Polywog; Tadpoles; Polliwig; Polewig; Polwig; Pollywog; Porwiggle; Porwigle; Purwiggy

Tadpole

·noun The hooded merganser.

II. Tadpole ·noun The young aquatic larva of any amphibian. In this stage it breathes by means of external or internal gills, is at first destitute of legs, and has a finlike tail. Called also polliwig, polliwog, porwiggle, or purwiggy.

tadpole

¦ noun the tailed aquatic larva of an amphibian such as a frog, breathing through gills and lacking legs until the later stages of its development.

Origin

C15: from OE tada 'toad' + poll (prob. because the tadpole seems to consist of a large head and a tail in its early developmental stage).

tadpole

A man who is dating a woman considerably older then himself.
Look at Betty, she's landed herself a tadpole.

Wikipedia

Tadpole

A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found in adult amphibians such as a lateral line, gills and swimming tails. As they undergo metamorphosis, they start to develop functional lungs for breathing air, and the diet of tadpoles changes drastically.

A few amphibians, such as some members of the frog family Brevicipitidae, undergo direct development – i.e., they do not undergo a free-living larval stage as tadpoles – instead emerging from eggs as fully formed "froglet" miniatures of the adult morphology. Some other species hatch into tadpoles underneath the skin of the female adult or are kept in a pouch until after metamorphosis. Having no hard skeletons, it might be expected that tadpole fossils would not exist. However, traces of biofilms have been preserved and fossil tadpoles have been found dating back to the Miocene.

Tadpoles are eaten as human food in some parts of the world and are mentioned in various folk tales from around the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadpole

Pronunciation examples for tadpole

1. gives birth to tadpoles.

A Song of Ice and New Species

2. live, but immature, tadpoles.

A Song of Ice and New Species

3. Right now, we're all tadpoles,

ted-talks_1530_StephenRitz_2012X-320k

4. tadpoles and frogs and things.

Skulls - An Exploration of Alan Dudley's Curious Collection _ Simon Winchester _ Talk at Google

5. would raise a tadpole bureaucrat

ted-talks_980_NatalieJeremijenko_2009P-320k

Examples of use of tadpole

1. In another experiment, Dr Amaya clipped the tail off a tadpole.

2. The tadpole and frog provide the means of identifying these genes.

3. One species, the tadpole shrimp (Lepidurus apus), is unique in that its females lay eggs without mating.

4. While the tadpole can be up to ten inches long, the adult frog is around two inches long.

5. The salamander develops as a tadpole in pools, puddles and springs and at three months leaves the water source and lives in burrows and caves during dry seasons.