tortoise

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“
It oscillated and wavered, revealing the serpentine head of a tortoise which, suddenly terrified, retreated into its shell This tortoise was a fancy which had seized Des Esseintes some time before his departure from Paris.

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Definitions (20)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun Any of various terrestrial turtles, especially one of the family Testudinidae, characteristically having thick clublike hind limbs and a high, rounded carapace.
  2. noun Chiefly British A terrestrial or freshwater chelonian.
  3. noun One that moves slowly; a laggard.

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Examples (50)

  • Michael had gone back to Second Chance to get Vigs at Breeta's request, and while neither she nor the tortoise could be blamed for what happened, the sight of the little creature might upset her. —  Celtic Riddle
  • Soon we were there and the tortoise was the object to conquer and, after sustenance, this was overcome by Talitha showing her strength and agility with years of gymnastics. —  RealTravel
  • A Galapagos tortoise, Geochelone elephantopus, is extinct but relatives of this tortoise could be cross-bred and recreate the extinct species [...] —  Feeds4all documents in category 'SEO'
  • In mid-July he began his private "B" notebook hypothesis that where every island in the Galápagos Archipelago had its own kind of tortoise, these had originated from a single tortoise species and had adapted to life on the different islands in different ways. —  Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en]
  • Limuan means a tortoise, which is a section of many castes. —  The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume II
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Alteration (influenced by porpoise) of Middle English tortuce, from Medieval Latin tortūca, alteration of Late Latin tartarūcha, feminine of tartarūchus, of the underworld; see turtle1.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also tortoyse, tortesse; from Middle English tortous, tortuce (from Anglo-French *tortuce?); Middle English also tortu, from Old French tortue, tortugue, French tortue =Provencal tortuga, tartuga =Old Spanish tortuga, tartuga, Spanish tortuga =Portuguese tartaruga =Old Italian tartuga, also tartaruga, tarteruga, tarterucca, Italian tartaruga (Middle Latin tortuca, tartuga), a tortoise, so named on account of its crooked feet, from Latin tortus, twisted: see tort, and cf. tortue, tortuous. The termination seems to be conformed in English to that of porpoise, and in Roman, vaguely, to that of Latin testudo, tortoise (see testudo). The word has undergone extraordinary variations of form, the latest being that which appears in tortle, now turtle: see turtle.
 

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/ˈtɔrtɪs/
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