tortoise
50
1.2
- noun
- /ˈtɔːr.təs/
:
tortuga
- In the warm sun, the tortoise slowly made its way across the sandy beach.
- tortoise shell
- desert tortoise
- Galapagos tortoise
But until then, look after your tortoises, people.
- But until then, look after your tortoises, people.
- And so he would never actually catch up with the the tortoise.
- The story of the tortoise and the hare is profound to every listener of this.
- I am a tortoise in a hare's costume.
- I am a tortoise in a hair's costume, OK?
- And we went there to find a really rear tortoise, which we succeeded in finding.
- Yeah, it's like a hare and like a tortoise and a hare.
Examples
-
The contrast between the two countries recalls the old fable of the tortoise and the hare.
Academic text (1998) -
I heard this story the other day... about the tortoise having a race with a hare.
-
Also this is my first time to see a tortoise in real life and it's just crazy.
-
That tortoise has the lead.
-
Time for Terry the Tortoise to come help us clean on up.
-
You reach down, you flip the tortoise over on its back.
-
I looked back at the baby tortoise in my hand; it was still adorable.
Fiction book (1998) -
I came across these tortoises at the fish market.
-
They started this breeding center because people used to hunt tortoises not too long ago and so they're trying to repopulate.
-
They shared Mauritius with bats, lizards, giant tortoises and other birds.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A reptile like a turtle or tortoise
Compounds
1
4.2
A very large land turtle from islands like Galapagos and Seychelles that lives over 100 years
1
6.0
A large land turtle with a round shell that lives in burrows to escape desert heat
A small land animal like a turtle with a hard shell that lives in southern Europe
A freshwater turtle with bright yellow and red markings on its shell and skin
- South African
A climbing plant from South Africa with a large woody root and rough cracked bark
How Slow
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word tortoise comes from the old French word tortue, the same root as the English turtle. A helpful way to remember it is to think of a tortoise as a 'land turtle' with a heavy shell that moves slowly, which is why the word means the slow reptiles that live on land.