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tortoise

[tawr-tuhs]

Example Sentences Origin

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noun

a turtle, especially a terrestrial turtle.

a very slow person or thing.

testudo (def. 1).

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Origin:
1350–1400; variant of earlier (15th-century) tortuse, tortose, tortuce, Middle English tortuca < Medieval Latin tortūca, for Late Latin tartarūcha (feminine adj.) of Tartarus (< Greek tartaroûcha), the tortoise being regarded as an infernal animal; Medieval Latin form influenced by Latin tortus crooked, twisted (see tort)

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To tortoise

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Tortoise is always a great word to know.

So is bezoar. Does it mean:

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

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Example Sentences

The desert tortoise was declared an endangered species today because it is threatened by a respiratory disease.

But it's the intercity bus, the tortoise of the transport world, that is taking over much of the medium-haul market.

Nice article except that the radiated tortoise is a land animal, not fresh water.

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The desert tortoise was declared an endangered species today because it is threatened by a respiratory disease.

But it's the intercity bus, the tortoise of the transport world, that is taking over much of the medium-haul market.

Nice article except that the radiated tortoise is a land animal, not fresh water.

Cheating in sports might be as old as the race between the tortoise and the hare.

Red-footed tortoises in the wild live a typically lonely tortoise life, without even being cared for by their parents.

It seems to be the tortoise that always wins the race.

In the fable, the tortoise wins the race because the hare takes a nap.

After all, there is no need to spend time wondering if the world sits on the back of an giant tortoise.

In this clip of tortoise tests in a lab, animals with no coaching fail to locate the treat on the other side of the fence.

Right now, my vision of him seems to be that of a particularly eloquent tortoise keeping his neck safely within his shell.

The tortoise shells surrounded the remains of individuals who the scientists say were shamans.

In this clip of tortoise tests in a lab, animals with no coaching fail to locate t.

Subsequently, the tortoise or some fleeting particle must always have extent to exist in any real sense.

The function dial makes mode changes slower than a tortoise full of rigor mortis.

Tortoise minds are uniquely suited to tortoise environments.

One proposed compromise is tortoise relocation, but that's easier said than done.

Performance slower than a tortoise full of rigor mortis.

The giant tortoise became an international symbol of conservation as the last.

Licences to develop oil fields are being awarded at tortoise speed.

Get involved by adopting a tortoise or enrolling in an educational program.

But, once in a while, a tortoise manages to crawl up the side and escape into the surroundings.

Beagle, and the curious species of bird, lizard and tortoise he.

Nope, can't build those, it might hurt the desert tortoise.

They come in a variety of shades of tortoise as well as black.

The denials marked a victory for environmentalists trying to save the desert tortoise.

The only way the tortoise can win is by the death of the hare.

One of the more unforgettable works on view is a tortoise shell.

She favors gold-washed metals, colored stones and resins that mimic wood or tortoise shell.

Some scientists estimate that two-thirds of the tortoise and freshwater turtle species on the planet are seriously threatened.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

tortoise (ˈtɔːtəs)

—n
1.	any herbivorous terrestrial chelonian reptile of the family Testudinidae, of most warm regions, having a heavy dome-shaped shell and clawed limbsRelated: chelonian, testudinal
2.	water tortoise another name for terrapin
3.	a slow-moving person
4.	another word for testudo See also giant tortoise

Related: chelonian, testudinal

[C15: probably from Old French tortue (influenced by Latin tortus twisted), from Medieval Latin tortūca, from Late Latin tartarūcha coming from Tartarus, from Greek tartaroukhos; referring to the belief that the tortoise originated in the underworld]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

tortoise

1550s, altered (perhaps by infl. of porpoise) from M.E. tortuse (late 15c.), tortuce (mid-15c.), tortuge (late 14c.), from M.L. tortuca (mid-13c.), perhaps from L.L. tartaruchus "of the underworld" (see turtle). Others propose a connection with L. tortus "twisted," based

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on the shape of the feet. The classical L. word was testudo, from testa "shell." First record of tortoise shell as a coloring pattern is from 1782.

COLLAPSE

Easton

Bible Dictionary

Tortoise definition

(Heb. tsabh). Ranked among the unclean animals (Lev. 11:29). Land tortoises are common in Syria. The LXX. renders the word by "land crocodile." The word, however, more probably denotes a lizard, called by the modern Arabs _dhabb_.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Matching Quote

"Now, if the principle of toleration were once admitted into classical education—if it were admitted that the great object is to read and enjoy a language, and the stress of the teaching were placed on the few things absolutely essential to this result, if the tortoise were allowed time to creep, and the bird permitted to fly, and the fish to swim, towards the enchanted and divine sources of Helicon—all might in their own way arrive there, and rejoice in its flowers, its beauty, and its coolness."

-Harriet Beecher Stowe

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tortoise

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Tortoise definition