[f. BULL sb.1 + FROG.] 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.
1738. Mortimer, Nat. Hist. Carolina, in Phil. Trans., XL. 348. The Bull-Frog. This hath its English Name from its Noise, which seems not unlike the Bellowing of a Bull at a Distance.
1795. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Lousiad, III. Wks. 1812, I. 248. The Bull-frog’s snore.
1824. W. Irving, T. Trav. (1849), 384. The bull-frog croaked dolefully from a neighboring pool.
1855. Longf., Hiaw., IX. 118. And the bull-frog, the Dahinda, Thrust his head into the moonlight.
