Meanings
plural bloody nouns · alternative bloody-noun · alternative bloodynoun
- USarchaicdialectalThe bullfrog, or the sound made by it.
"Ye little spalpeeny frog of a bog-throtting son of a bloody noun!"
1850, Edgar Allan Poe, Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling2 more examples
The big fellow was not there, but a keen-eyed little bull-frog had taken his place and he seemed to comprehend the situation at a glance. For he set up the croak, Bloody nouns, played out! played out!! PLAYED OUT!!!
1868, F. O. S., of Shreveport, Louisiana, quoted in The Land We Love: A Monthly Magazine; V. 1-6; May 1866-Mar. 1869, page 165"Bloody nouns are the big ones." […] A name given by boys in Philadelphia to large bullfrogs.
1898, Henry George, The Science of Political Economy, book 2, page 62, quoting a Philadelphia boy
Origin
From "blood 'n' 'oun's", from "blood and wounds". Several sources, including Harrison Garman's 1892 A Synopsis of the Reptiles and Amphibians of Illinois, say the frog is so called because "its peculiar bass notes […] have a fancied resemblance to the expression" blood and wounds and other similar-sounding and similarly imposing phrases like "be drowned".
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
bloody noun. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bloody%20noun
“bloody noun.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bloody%20noun. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bloody noun,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bloody%20noun.
Source: bloody noun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.