Etymology 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.
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An amphibian, a kind of frog (broad sense, order Anura) with shorter hindlegs and a drier, wartier skin, many in family Bufonidae.
Shortly he heard the trolls coming. They had a fiddler with them, and some began dancing, while others fell to eating the Christmas fare on the table - some fried bacon, and some fried frogs and toads, and other nasty things which they had brought with them.1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 149:
1971, Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger & John Densmore, "Riders on the Storm", The Doors, L.A. Woman. There's a killer on the road / His brain is squirmin' like a toad
1 more example
Perhaps the largest number of volunteers — more than 33,000 of them — support the Wildlife Trusts on 2,600 nature reserves. But scattered around the country are smaller, specialist teams such as the Charlcombe Toad Rescue Group, near Bath. More than 50 volunteers wearing high-vis jackets and carrying torches and buckets spent 600 hours this year helping 1,547 toads and many other amphibians to safely cross Charlcombe Lane on their way to their breeding lake. From toads to towpaths, the unsung and committed efforts of our rural volunteers play a very large role in keeping our countryside looking how we all want it to look. Let's salute them.2026 June 23, John Craven, “This unsung, unpaid army of workers is vital for rural Britain”, in BBC Countryfile, number 243, page 21:
Etymology 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.
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Internet, Informal To expel (a user) permanently from a MUD or similar system, so that their account is deleted.