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tortoise

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tor⋅toise

  [tawr-tuhs]
Use tortoise in a Sentence
–noun
1. a turtle, esp. a terrestrial turtle.
2. a very slow person or thing.
3. testudo (def. 1).
Origin:
1350–1400; var. of earlier (15th-century) tortuse, tortose, tortuce, ME tortuca < ML tortūca, for LL tartarūcha (fem. adj.) of Tartarus (< Gk tartaroûcha), the tortoise being regarded as an infernal animal; ML form influenced by L tortus crooked, twisted (see tort )
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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tor·toise   (tôr'tĭs)   
n.  

    1. Any of various terrestrial turtles, especially one of the family Testudinidae, characteristically having thick clublike hind limbs and a high, rounded carapace.

    2. Chiefly British A terrestrial or freshwater chelonian.

  2. One that moves slowly; a laggard.


[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.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

tortoise 
1552, altered (perhaps by infl. of porpoise) from M.E. tortuse (1495), tortuce (1440), tortuge (1398), from M.L. tortuca (c.1255), perhaps from L.L. tartaruchus "of the underworld" (see turtle). Others propose a connection with L. tortus "twisted," based 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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

Tortoise

(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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