Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various terrestrial turtles, especially one of the family Testudinidae, characteristically having thick clublike hind limbs and a high, rounded carapace.
- noun One that moves slowly; a laggard.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An American nymphalid butterfly, Eugonia j-album: more fully called the Compton tortoise.
- noun Same as
tortoise-beetle . - noun A turtle; any chelonian or testudinate; a member of the order Chelonia or Testudinata (see the technical terms).
- noun A movable roof formerly used to protect the soldiers who worked a battering-ram.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of reptiles of the order Testudinata.
- noun (Rom. Antiq.) Same as
Testudo , 2. - noun See under
Box ,Land , etc. - noun (Zoöl.) See Painted turtle, under
Painted . - noun (Zoöl.) See
Trionyx . - noun (Zoöl.) A small American fresh-water tortoise (
Chelopus guttatus orNanemys guttatus ) having a blackish carapace on which are scattered round yellow spots. - noun (Zoöl.) any one of numerous species of small tortoise-shaped beetles. Many of them have a brilliant metallic luster. The larvæ feed upon the leaves of various plants, and protect themselves beneath a mass of dried excrement held over the back by means of the caudal spines. The golden tortoise beetle (
Cassida aurichalcea ) is found on the morning-glory vine and allied plants. - noun (Bot.) See Elephant's foot, under
Elephant . - noun the substance of the shell or horny plates of several species of sea turtles, especially of the hawkbill turtle. It is used in inlaying and in the manufacture of various ornamental articles.
- noun (Zoöl.) any one of several species of handsomely colored butterflies of the genus Aglais, as
Aglais Milberti , andAglais urticæ , both of which, in the larva state, feed upon nettles. - noun (Zoöl.) the hawkbill turtle. See
Hawkbill .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of various land-dwelling
reptiles , offamily Testudinidae , whose body is enclosed in ashell (carapace plusplastron ). The animal canwithdraw its head and four legs partially into the shell, providing someprotection frompredators .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun usually herbivorous land turtles having clawed elephant-like limbs; worldwide in arid area except Australia and Antarctica
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word tortoise.
Examples
-
Timothy the tortoise is a splendid social critic, a keen-eyed anthropologist who sees far beyond his shell.
Timothy: Summary and book reviews of Timothy by Verlyn Klinkenborg. 2006
-
"When the shell first became a matter of commerce, it was supposed that the turtle and the tortoise were the same, and the name tortoise being much older than turtle, the former appellation remained in designating the shell."
The Wonder Island Boys: Conquest of the Savages Roger Thompson Finlay
-
The giant tortoise is indigenous to the Galapagos Islands, and is also endangered.
Galápagos National Park & Galápagos Marine Resources Reserve, Ecuador 2009
-
Turtles. 102 -- The tortoises, more commonly called by our Indians the turtles, are of three sorts: the hawksbill, whose shell is that which we call the tortoise shell; the green turtle, whose flesh is good to eat; the third kind is called the loggerhead turtle, and neither its shell nor its flesh is of worth.
Colonial Children 1902
-
The terrestrial kinds are commonly known as tortoise while water dwelling ones may be called terrapins.
-
I like when it's darker, "said Ms. Kamali dressed in tortoise cat-eye sunglasses, a black blouse and ruched skirt (her own designs) with" creepy "Ann Demeulemeester-esque lace-up boots she said cost $60.
Sitting in the Principal's Office, Kamali Style Priya Rao 2010
-
The colossal tortoise is noticed by Ælian (De Nat.
-
Billy Williams, the tortoise's owner, says he's had Roger since the tortoise was the size of a tennis ball.
-
Lloyds 'Turtle Wins the Race Sometimes the tortoise is the best bet.
-
Clemens said that heretofore Neptune, the planetary outpost of our system, had been called the tortoise of the skies, but that comparatively it was rapid in its motion, and had become a near neighbor.
gangerh commented on the word tortoise
When you put a tortoise on the front of a Formula One car, at what speed does it shut its eyes?
May 8, 2009