Green’s Dictionary of Slang

frog (and toad) n.

the road.

1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1880		D.W. Barrett Life and Work among Navvies 40: Oh! I’m goin’ to get my ‘kit’ (bundle), and be off on the frog and toad.
1887		J.W. Horsley Jottings from Jail 3: Call a flounder and dab with a tidy Charing Cross, and we’ll go for a Bushey Park along the frog and toad into the live eels.
1890		Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 5 July 7/2: [T]he pro’s must be off on the frog and toad to some kingdom far away.
1900		Truth (Sydney) 7 Jan. in Baker (1945) 269: When I meets the cheese and kisses and prattled off down the frog and toad, I tell you I was a bit of orl right.
1914		N.Z. Truth 31 Jan. 2/8: Do you get the twist and twirl [...] going down the other Peggy Pryde (the other side) of the frog and toad.
1914		letter in Sporting Times 12 Dec. 7/1: Such ‘back talk’ as ‘north and south (mouth), pig’s ear (beer), Scotch peg (leg), bees and honey (money), frog and toad (road), 5 to 2 (Jew’ etc.
1917		in Seal Lingo (1999) 59: The Yank: ‘Say Guy, how far to battle?’ Aussie: ‘Well sonny, I guess it’s about five kilos. Just “pencil and chalk” straight along this “frog and toad” till you come to the “romp and ramp” on the “johnny horner”.’.
1924		Mail (Adelaide) 16 Feb. 1/4: I’m goin’ up the frog and toad (road) for a misbeheave (shave).
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 99: Frog And Toad: Road.
1927		Eve. Herald (Dublin) 30 Nov. 6/4: Cockney bricklayers seem to have a quaint language of their own [...] frog and toad — road1891-1949.
1937		J. Curtis You’re in the Racket, Too 250: Look out of the window and see what’s on in the frog.
1938		L. Ortzen Down Donkey Row 25: If we walk up the frog an’ toad an’ take tanner bets – it’s dark cells for us.
1941		West. Australian (Perth) 12 Apr. 4: Sweating for miles on the frog and toad, / Our plates of meat like a two-ton load.
a.1945		L. Payne private coll. n.p.: Road Frog & Toad.
1950		P. Hoskins No Hiding Place! 190/1: Down the Frog and Toad. Down the road.
1952		Argus (Melbourne) 13 June 4s/2: On leaving the pub it is customary [...] to have one for the ‘frog’, instead of using the full ‘frog and toad’.
1967		‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxiv 4/5: frog and toad: Road.
1979		R. Barker Fletcher’s Book of Rhy. Sl. 21: I met a bird one evening / As I walked down the frog. [Ibid.] 25: He [...] set off down the frog and toad.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 9: ‘[H]e dodged over the frog to give ’em a bitta swish’.
1988		Tampa Trib. (FL) 10 Apr. 6G/5: If you ball and chalk down the frog and toad after a row with your pot and pan think twice befoire stepping into a pub and getting completely Brahms and Liszt.
1989		in G. Tremlett Little Legs 194: frog road (abb. for frog and toad in rhyming slang).
1998		I. Welsh Filth 287: I’m shite at accents [...] except for the Cockney cause I used to live down there. Orlroight moite? Dahn the old frog n toad.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 74/2: frog and toad n. road.
2002		D. Shaw ‘Dead Beard’ at www.asstr.org 🌐 Dionne doesn’t seem too happy about her babbling brook though, because when I start digging into her light and bitter again she comes on like a frog and toad gang have got her on the end of a pneumatic drill.
2015		N. Cummins Tales of the Honey Badger [ebook] We quickly hit the frog and toad.

In phrases

down the frog (adj.)

run-down, tawdry.

1884

Sporting Times 2 Aug. 1/4: His clobber may be all down the frog, and he may part his Barnet in the I’ll ask you; but clever!

on the frog

on foot, walking.

1886		W. Newton Secrets of Tramp Life Revealed 4: Oldham, where he had been late on the ‘Frog,’ there was little business being done.
1893		P.H. Emerson Signor Lippo 55: Truefitts chucked him, and off he goes on the frog.