tortoise

tortoise
  (ˈtɔːtəs, -tɪs)
  Forms: see below.
  [Found in 15th c. in forms tortuca, tortuce, tortuge, tortu, tortuse, tortose. Tortūca (c 1255 in Albertus Magnus Animal. 24 §126, 25 §59) was the late popular L. name (see below), which later regularly became, as still in Prov. and Sp., tortuga, and in F. tortue. (Diefenbach cites also med.L. turtus, tortus.) Of the Eng. forms, tortuce evidently represented the Latin, tortue and tortu the French, and the 16th c. tortuga the Sp. form. Tortuse was prob. a mere variant of tortuce (cf. lettuce, letuse below); tortose and the later forms in -esse, -ise, -oise, being further variants, partly at least due to shifting of stress and obscuration of the vowel. The forms in final -s may have arisen simply from dropping -e mute; but some of them may have come from taking the possessive tortu's, tortou's, in tortou's skin, tortue's shell, as the nominative. The form tortoise appears c 1569, preceded by tortoyse, 1552.
  The late popular L. or Romanic tortūca is commonly held to be a derivative of L. tortus twisted, with the formative suffix seen in L. carrūca, festūca, lactūca, verrūca, and to refer to the crooked feet of the south European species (Diez). With L. tortūca, F. tortue, Eng. tortuce, tortuse, cf. L. lactūca, F. laitue, Eng. lettuce, letuse, and the variant forms of the last. The classical L. name was testūdo, from testa shell, whence It. testudine, testuggine.]
  1. a. A four-footed reptile of the order Chelonia, in which the trunk is enclosed between a carapace and plastron, formed by the dorsal vertebræ, ribs, and sternum; the skin being covered with large horny plates, commonly called the shell.
  The Chelonia are usually divided into Land-tortoises (Testudinidæ), Marsh-tortoises (Emydæ), River-tortoises (Trionycidæ), and Marine tortoises (Chelonidæ), in which the feet are compressed into flippers or paddles. The last are now commonly distinguished as turtles; but this name is sometimes extended to species of the Emydæ and Trionycidæ. By some zoologists the name ‘tortoise’ is confined to the terrestrial genus Testudo and its immediate congeners; see also terrapin¹.
  (α) 5 tortuce, tortuge, (tortuca, 6 tortuga).

1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. cviii. (Bodl. MS. c 1450) lf. 287 b/1 The tortuge [ed. 1495 tortuse] is acounted amonge snailles for he is closed bitwene twey hard schellis..and of tortuca is double kinde þat one woneþ in ryuers & þat oþer in londe. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 497/2 Tortuce, beest.., tortuca. 1577 Frampton Joyfull Newes ii. 73 b, [Lagartos] take out their yonglynges, as the Tortugas of the sea doeth. 1596 Raleigh Discov. Guiana 54 We found thousands of Tortugas egs, which are very wholesome meate. [1832 Macgillivray tr. Humboldt's Trav. xvii. 223 The arraw or tortuga is a large fresh water tortoise.]

  (β) 5 tortu, turtu, tortou; 6–7 tortue.

c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 874 The sedis in a tortous skyn [testudinis coreo] thou drie. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1906) 15 In sayeng youre praiers..be not like the crane or the tortu;..thei are like the crane and the turtu that turnithe her hede and fases bacward, and lokithe ouer the shuldre. 1587 L. Mascall Govt. Cattle, Horses (1627) 184 If Sinews or Nerues bee broken or bruised,..Yee shall lay thereon the flesh of a Tortue,..beaten with the powder of Mullenherbe.

  (γ) 5 tortose, 5–7 tortuse, 6 -tuous, -tueis, 7 -tuis, -tus.

1484 Caxton Fables of Auian ii, The..fable..of the tortose and of the other byrdes. 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xviii. cviii. (W. de W.) gg iv b/1 The londe Tortuse [Bodl. MS. tortuge] dwellyth in houses and in wodes and is clene and good to etynge. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Tegimen, The Tortuous, when she is shronke into hir shelle. 1590 Tarlton News Purgat. (1844) 76 She that..hath the tortueis under her feet, and gads not abroad. 1598 Yong Diana 49 Their shields..were broad shels of monstrous Tortuses. 1630 S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. (1658) 39 In the sense of Hearing, the Hart excelleth all others..; of Feeling the Tortuis. 1651 Tortus [see tortoise-shell 4].

  (δ) 6 torteyse, torteaux, 6–7 tortesse, -teise, 7 tortise, (-ties).

1545 Elyot, Chelys, a torteyse. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 106 The Tortesse is reckned one amongst the Snaile or Wormes. 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 3, I goe to it as the Torteise to the inchantment. 1600 E. de Jonghe's True Declar. Army by Sea 22 There they saw verie great Torteauxes. Ibid., The same day they took a Torteaux. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 205 The brooke it selfe abounding with Tortesses. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. Introd., Having shells, as the Torteise. Ibid. 124 Tortise. In the deserts of Africa, Lybia, and Mauritania.

  (ε) 6–7 tortoyse, 6–8 -tois, (6 -toys, 7 -toisse, turtois), 6– tortoise.

1552 Huloet, Tortoyse fyshe, chelys. 1555 Eden Decades 200 In..Cuba, are founde great Tortoyses (which are certeyne shell fysshes) of such byggenesse that tenne or fyfteene men are scarsely able to lyfte one of them owt of the water. 1569 Tortoises [see 2]. 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 39 Venus standeth on the Tortoys, as shewing that Loue creepeth on by degrees. 1601 Holland Pliny vi. xxii. I. 131 Tortoisses..so great..that one of their shels will serve to cover an house. 1611 Bible Lev. xi. 29 The Weasell, and the Mouse, and the Tortois, after his kinde. 1617 Keymis in Raleigh's Apol. 34, I have sent..one roule of Tobacco, one Tortoyse. 1648 Turtoises [see b]. 1666 J. Davies Hist. Caribby Isles 133 There are Land-Tortoises, Sea-Tortoises, and Fresh-water Tortoises, which are of different figures. 1699 Garth Dispens. ii. 19 And there, the Tortois hung her Coat o' Mail. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. 102 Going down to the Sea-side, I found a large Tortoise or Turtle. 1841–71 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 737 The perfect and typical Reptile, as the Lizard, the Tortoise, and the Serpent, breathes air, and air only.

  b. A figure or image of a tortoise.

1648 J. Raymond Il Merc. Italico 42 Two Marble Pyramids that stand on brasse Turtoises. 1853 Humphreys Coin-Coll. Man. iii. (1876) 21 The coins of ægina are easily recognized by the tortoise which is their invariable type. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 22 Apr. 3/3 Two metal tortoises—probably tobacco-jars?..were lying at hand on the table.

  c. Taken as a type of slowness of motion; hence, applied to a very slow person or thing.

[1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals ii. iii. 198 He is slow in his Negotiations, advancing like a Tortoise.] 1825 Scott Talism. xxii, The speediest horse he had ever mounted was a tortoise in comparison to those of the Arabian sage. 1842 I. Williams Baptistery ii. xvii. (1874) 6 One is travelling with a tortoise by his side, How slowly doth he wend.

  2. a. A sort of penthouse, under which besiegers were protected as a tortoise by its shell; = testudo 3.

1569 T. Stocker tr. Diod. Sic. iii. viii. 113/2 He had also many other Engines..and two great and puissaunt Tortoises to helpe them. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. xiii. 45 Battering-Rams, Sowes, Horses, Tortuses. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc viii. 159 Tortoises, beneath whose roofing safe, They, filling the deep moat, might for the towers Make fit foundation. 1856 Grote Greece ii. xcii. XII. 129 His soldiers, protected from missiles by moveable penthouses (called Tortoises).

  b. = testudo 3 b.

1697 Dryden æneid ii. 601 Their Targets in a Tortoise cast, the Foes Secure advancing, to the Turrets rose. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. xix. iv. (1827) VIII. 139 They came forward in the form of the testudo, or tortoise. 1863 G. J. Whyte-Melville Gladiators 408 He bade them form with their shields the figure that was called ‘the Tortoise’.

  3. Short for tortoise-shell. Usually attrib. or as adj.

1654 D. Osborne Lett. to Sir W. Temple (1888) 240 The ring..is very well, only a little of the biggest. Send me a tortoise one that is a little less. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3833/4 A Gold Snuff-Box,..the bottom Tortoise. 1902 Fur & Feather 19 Sept. 232/2 The Young Brindle or Tortoise class [of Cavies].

  4. a. attrib. (sometimes = adj.) and Comb., as tortoise broth, tortoise-feeder, tortoise god, tortoise-heart, tortoise-myth, tortoise pond; tortoise-headed, tortoise-shaped adjs., tortoise-like adj. and adv.; tortoise-fashion adv.; esp. with reference to the slow gait of the tortoise, as tortoise-hours, tortoise-pace, tortoise race; tortoise-footed, tortoise-paced adjs.; also tortoise-beetle, a leaf-beetle of the family Cassididæ, from the resemblance of the wing-cases and prothorax to the carapace of a tortoise; tortoise core Archæol., a core (core n.¹ 5) resembling a tortoise in shape; † tortoise encrinite, a fossil crinoid of the genus Marsupites; tortoise-flower, a plant of the genus Chelone, from the resemblance of the corolla to the head of a tortoise (also called turtle-head); † tortoise-iron, ? a peg for tethering captured tortoises; tortoise-lyre, a lyre made of a tortoise-shell; tortoise-plant, a South African plant, Testudinaria elephantipes, allied to the yam, having a large fleshy root-stock growing above ground, the surface of which becomes deeply cracked so as to suggest the carapace of a tortoise; also called elephant's foot and Hottentot's bread; tortoise race, a race in which the last person home wins; tortoise-roof = sense 2; tortoise-roofed a., having a roof resembling a tortoise-shell; tortoise rotifer, a rotifer or wheel-animalcule of the family Brachionidæ, having a broad shield-shaped body; tortoise tent, a kind of tent with a roof shaped like the shell of a tortoise; tortoise-wood: see quot.

c 1711 Petiver Gazophyl. vi. lix, Brasil *Tortoise Beetle..Its Legs and Body of a golden green, with Copper Edges, it creeps softly, and is slow to fly. 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxix. 74 Cassida viridis, a tortoise beetle,..covers her group of eggs with a partially transparent membrane.

1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. iii. 178 *Tortoise broth is prepared from the flesh of the Testudo Græca... Some of the fresh-water tortoises may be substituted.

1919 R. A. Smith in Man July 101 *Tortoise-cores have been found on the bank of the ancient river to the south⁓east. 1972 K. P. Oakley Man the Tool-maker 52 Viewed on its outer face an oval flake thus detached from a tortoise-core has the appearance of a flat, finely worked hand-axe.

1808 Parkinson Org. Rem. Former World II. xxii. 225 The extraordinary fossil, which, from the disposition of the plates of which it is formed, may be termed the *Tortoise Encrinite.

1894 A. Beardsley Let. Oct. (1971) 75 The Tannhaüser gets on *tortoise fashion but admirably for all that. 1921 W. de la Mare Crossings 71 Ann slowly thrusts her head out of the snow-house, tortoise-fashion.

1855 Kingsley Heroes, Theseus ii. 213 Holla, thou *tortoise-feeder.

1818 Milman Samor 83 Thou *tortoise-footed sluggard!

1750 Parsons in Phil. Trans. (1753) XLVII. 120 The *tortoise-headed seal. On the shores of many parts of Europe. 1865 J. H. Ingraham Pillar of Fire (1872) 223 A tortoise-headed god.

1873 E. Brennan Witch of Nemi, etc. 163 Fain would I beguile the *tortoise-hours.

1697 W. Dampier Voy. round World (1699) 37 The Moskito-men make their own striking Instruments as Harpoons, Fish-hooks, and *Tortoise-Iron or Pegs.

c 1630 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 36 Stone-rolling Tay, Tine *tortoise-like that flows. 1645 Bp. Hall Remedy Discontents 141 What is this, but Tortoise-like to be clogg'd with a weighty shel? 1804 [see tortoise-shell 4 b]. 1956 P. H. Johnson Last Resort xxiii. 143 His aged, stilted stride, his tortoise-like out-thrusting of the head. 1982 ‘J. Ross’ Death's Head iv. 22 The traffic once more moving, though at a tortoise-like crawl.

1820 Shelley Hymn to Mercury xxv, With his left hand about his knees—the right Held his belovèd *tortoise-lyre tight.

1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. xii. 334 The *Tortoise-myths of North America and India.

1690 Dryden Don Sebast. iii. i, Thou mov'st a *tortoise-pace to my relief.

a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Cypress Grove Wks. (1711) 122 Swift and active pilgrims come to the end of it in the morning or at noon, which *tortoise-paced wretches..scarce..crawl unto at midnight.

1866 Treas. Bot., *Tortoise-plant.

1913 *Tortoise race [listed in Dict]. 1914 Rowe & Webb Guide to Study of Eng. iii. 126 This is a ‘tortoise’ race, the last man to receive the prize.

1855 Singleton Virgil I. 288 Leaguered by the *tortoise-roof.

1886 Pall Mall G. 12 Oct. 4/1 They [Mormons] convene within that hideously ugly, *tortoise-roofed building called the Tabernacle.

1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxix. 77 Those singular immovable *tortoise-shaped insects. 1911 Archæologia LXII. ii. 523 Tortoise-shaped cores. This is perhaps the most striking group in the enormous series from Northfleet.

1890 Daily News 8 Apr. 3/2 The patients found every care bestowed upon them in the *tortoise tent. 1901 Daily Chron. 23 July 3/2 A good case made out for the ‘tortoise’ tent as used by the Portland Hospital.

1866 Treas. Bot., *Tortoise-wood, a variety of Zebra-wood.

  b. (With capital initial.) A proprietary name for a type of solid-fuel-burning stove.

1884 Trade Marks Jrnl. 5 Nov. 1025 The Tortoise... Slow combustion stoves. Charles Portway & Son, ‘Tortoise’ Stove Works, and High Street, Halstead, Essex; Stove Manufacturers. 1895 Army & Navy Co-op Soc. Price List 336 (heading) ‘Tortoise’ heating stoves. 1948 J. Betjeman Few Late Chrysanthemums (1954) 10 The Tortoise stove is lit again. 1981 Country Life 12 Feb. 411/3 (Advt.), The old world appeal of the Tortoise Ornamental Stove... Accepts wood, coal or smokeless fuel.

Oxford English Dictionary