frogs

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of frog.

   A chorus of frogs filled the wetland at dusk.

   Biologists tracked the local frogs to study their declining numbers.

   Note

   A regular plural, made with a plain -s, that covers far more than amphibians. Violinists speak of the frogs of their bows, brickmakers of the frogs pressed into bricks, farriers of the frogs on hooves, and railway workers of the frogs where rails cross, a name borrowed from the hoof. The spelling is shared with the present-tense verb, so frogs in a pond are animals, while a knitter who frogs a sleeve is unpicking it.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of frog.

   Whenever the pattern goes wrong, she frogs the knitting back to the last clean row.

   Each spring he frogs the marsh edge at night, hunting by flashlight.

   Note

   Agreement decides this form. It goes with he, she, it or a singular noun, while a plural subject takes bare frog: they frog the chicken before grilling it. Most uses take an object, as when a cook frogs a chicken or a knitter frogs a row. The sprawling sense stands alone, though: the dog frogs on the cool kitchen tiles.

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