"On Wednesdays we wear capes": two women in hooded cloaks with frog closures whisper about a friend who didn't get the memo.

frog, noun : an ornamental braiding for fastening the front of a garment that consists of a button and a loop through which it passes

"Although the version that appeared at the end of this morning's runway show was sans tails …, it was elegant, a shawl-collar jacket with a frog closure, over a pleated-bib, wing-collar, formal tux shirt with black bow tie."

—Adam Tschorn, The Los Angeles Times, 20 January 2009

We don't know how these pretty little bits of braiding came to be called frogs, but that is indeed what they're called. The word also refers to a looped device attached to a belt for holding a weapon or tool. Both uses are more than 300 years old, and no one who can explain the connection to amphibians—if there is one—is around anymore.