tortoise

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: tor=toise

CIDE DICTIONARY

tortoise, n. [OE. tortuce, fr. OF. tortis crooked, fr. L. tortus twisted, crooked, contorted, p. p. of torquere, tortum, to wind; cf. F. tortue tortoise, LL. tortuca, tartuca, Pr. tortesa crookedness, tortis crooked. so called in allusion to its crooked feet. See Torture.].

•  Any one of numerous species of reptiles of the order Testudinata.  [1913 Webster]

  " The term is applied especially to the land and fresh-water species, while the marine species are generally called turtles, but the terms tortoise and turtle are used synonymously by many writers. See Testudinata, Terrapin, and Turtle."  [1913 Webster]
•  Same as Testudo, 2.  [1913 Webster]

Box tortoise, Land tortoise, etc. See under Box, Land, etc. -- Painted tortoise. (Zoöl.) See Painted turtle, under Painted. -- Soft-shell tortoise. (Zoöl.) See Trionyx. -- Spotted tortoise. (Zoöl.) A small American fresh-water tortoise (Chelopus guttatus or Nanemys guttatus) having a blackish carapace on which are scattered round yellow spots. -- Tortoise beetle (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. -- Tortoise plant. (Bot.) See Elephant's foot, under Elephant. -- Tortoise shell, 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. -- Tortoise-shell butterfly (Zoöl.), any one of several species of handsomely colored butterflies of the genus Aglais, as Aglais Milberti, and Aglais urticæ, both of which, in the larva state, feed upon nettles. -- Tortoise-shell turtle (Zoöl.), the hawkbill turtle. See Hawkbill.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

tortoise, n.
1 any slow-moving land or freshwater reptile of the family Testudinidae, encased in a scaly or leathery domed shell, and having a retractile head and elephantine legs.
2 Rom. Antiq. = TESTUDO.

Derivative

tortoise-like adj. & adv.

Etymology

ME tortuce, OF tortue, f. med.L tortuca, of uncert. orig.

DEVIL DICTIONARY

tortoise

n. A creature thoughtfully created to supply occasion for the following lines by the illustrious Ambat Delaso:

TO MY PET TORTOISE

My friend, you are not graceful -- not at all;
Your gait's between a stagger and a sprawl.

Nor are you beautiful: your head's a snake's
To look at, and I do not doubt it aches.

As to your feet, they'd make an angel weep.
'Tis true you take them in whene'er you sleep.

No, you're not pretty, but you have, I own,
A certain firmness -- mostly you're [sic] backbone.

Firmness and strength (you have a giant's thews)
Are virtues that the great know how to use --

I wish that they did not; yet, on the whole,
You lack -- excuse my mentioning it -- Soul.

So, to be candid, unreserved and true,
I'd rather you were I than I were you.

Perhaps, however, in a time to be,
When Man's extinct, a better world may see

Your progeny in power and control,
Due to the genesis and growth of Soul.

So I salute you as a reptile grand
Predestined to regenerate the land.

Father of Possibilities, O deign
To accept the homage of a dying reign!

In the far region of the unforeknown
I dream a tortoise upon every throne.

I see an Emperor his head withdraw
Into his carapace for fear of Law;

A King who carries something else than fat,
Howe'er acceptably he carries that;

A President not strenuously bent
On punishment of audible dissent --

Who never shot (it were a vain attack)
An armed or unarmed tortoise in the back;

Subject and citizens that feel no need
To make the March of Mind a wild stampede;

All progress slow, contemplative, sedate,
And "Take your time" the word, in Church and State.

O Tortoise, 'tis a happy, happy dream,
My glorious testudinous regime!

I wish in Eden you'd brought this about
By slouching in and chasing Adam out.

THESAURUS

tortoise

alligator, crocodile, crocodilian, dawdle, dawdler, dinosaur, drone, foot-dragger, gator, goldbrick, goof-off, laggard, lie-abed, lingerer, lizard, loiterer, plodder, procrastinator, reptile, reptilian, saurian, sleepyhead, slow goer, slow-foot, slowbelly, slowpoke, slug, sluggard, snail, stick-in-the-mud, terrapin, turtle

ROGET THESAURUS

tortoise

Slowness

N slowness, languor, drawl, creeping, lentor, retardation, slackening, delay, claudication, jog trot, dog trot, mincing steps, slow march, slow time, slow goer, slow coach, slow back, lingerer, loiterer, sluggard, tortoise, snail, poke, dawdle, slow, slack, tardy, dilatory, gentle, easy, leisurely, deliberate, gradual, insensible, imperceptible, glacial, languid, sluggish, slow paced, tardigrade, snail-like, creeping, reptatorial, slowly, leisurely, piano, adagio, largo, larghetto, at half speed, under easy sail, at a foots pace, at a snail's pace, at a funeral pace, in slow time, with mincing steps, with clipped wings, haud passibus aequis, gradually, gradatim, by degrees, by slow degrees, by inches, by little and little, step by step, one step at a time, inch by inch, bit by bit, little by little, seriatim, consecutively, dum Roma deliberat Saguntum perit, at a glacial pace.