western toad
- noun
- /ˈwɛstərn toʊd/
- US
:
sapo occidental
- western toad eggs
- western toad and Cascades frog
Examples
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Huntley AC, Donnelly M, Cohen HB. 1978. Sleep in the western toad, Bufo boreas. Sleep Research 7: 141.
Academic text (2010) -
The western toad is often spotted near ponds and wetlands during the breeding season.
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In the rocky hills of Idaho, the western toad can be found hopping across the trails.
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During warm evenings, you might hear the croaking calls of the western toad echoing through the woods.
Synonyms
98
1.0
A small animal like a frog with a thick body and dry, bumpy skin
A toad that lives in western North America from southern Alaska to Baja California
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a toad from the west' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'western' (from the west) with 'toad' (an amphibian); there is no idiomatic shift or metaphorical extension. This simple modifier+noun composition is cross-linguistically common and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
The name western toad comes from a simple idea: it is a toad that lives in the western part of North America, often west of the Rocky Mountains. Calling it western tells you where it lives, so the name helps you remember which 'species' of toad it is.