subs. (old).—1.  A term of contempt; and (2) a jocular address: e.g., ‘You little TOAD’: cf. MONKEY, ROGUE, etc. Also TOADLING.

1

  1621.  BURTON, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II. III. iii. Thou discontented wretch, thou coveteous niggard … thou ambitious and swelling TOAD.

2

  1772.  BRIDGES, A Burlesque Translation of Homer, 203.

        Æneas swore it was not fair
One man should box with such a pair
Of ill-look’d TOADS.

3

  1779.  JOHNSON [BURNEY, Diary, I. 133]. Your shyness, and slyness, and pretending to know nothing, never took me in…. I always knew you for a TOADLING.

4

  1847.  C. BRONTË, Jane Eyre, iii. If she were a nice, pretty child, one might compassionate her forlornness; but one really cannot care for such a little TOAD as that.

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  PHRASES.  ‘She sits like a TOAD on a chopping block’ (of a horsewoman with a bad seat); ‘As much need of it as a TOAD of a side-pocket’ = no need at all; ‘As full of money as a TOAD is of feathers’ = penniless (GROSE); ‘Like a TOAD under a harrow’ = on the rack.

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