fen nightingale

English

Etymology

From their continued croaking at night.

Noun

fen nightingale (plural fen nightingales)

  1. (UK, slang, archaic) A frog or toad.
    • 1934, Neil Bell, Bredon and Sons, page 15:
      Tom Spence is a dom fule and doesn't know a fen nightingale from a natterjack.

References
  • John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary
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