testudo
(tɛˈstjuːdəʊ)
Also 7 (in anglicized form) testude.
[a. L. testūdo tortoise, etc., f. testa a pot, shell, etc.: see test n.2]
1. Path. = Talpa 2: see quots.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 215 Testudines..ben engendrid of hard fleume. 1693 tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Testudo, a soft, large Swelling, or not very hard, in the Head, broad, in form of an Arch or Tortoise. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Testudo. 1857 Dunglison Dict. Med. Sc., Testudo,..an encysted tumour, which has been supposed to resemble the shell of a turtle..Talpa. |
2. Zool. The typical genus of the tortoise family, Testudinidæ; a member of this genus.
| c 1520 L. Andrewe Noble Lyfe xcv, Testudo is a fysshe in a shelle & is in the se of Inde & his shelle is very great & like a muskle. 1706 Phillips, Testudo,..the Tortoise, or Shell-crab. 1752 J. Hill Hist. Anim. 112 The Testudo has four legs, and its body is covered with a firm shell. |
3. Roman Antiq. a. An engine of war used by besiegers, consisting of a screen or shelter, with a strong and usually fire-proof arched roof; it was wheeled up to the walls, which could then be attacked in safety. Also applied to similar contrivances in more recent times.
| 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xxiii. iv. 222 There is a mightie Testudo or frame made, strengthened with very long pieces of timber. 1622 Peacham Compl. Gent. ix. 73 All engines of warre..Sambukes, Catapultes, Testudo's, Scorpions. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 150 A Ram-engine..which, together with its testude, they setled on its wheels. 1644 Lanc. Tracts (Chetham Soc.) 187 A kind of testudo, a wooden engine running on wheeles, rooft towards the house with thick planks. |
b. A shelter formed by a body of troops locking their shields together above their heads.
| a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 174 He will join as many Shields together as would make a Roman testudo. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Testudo,..a Target-Fence. 1801 Ranken Hist. France I. 65 A testudo preceded the main body; and two detachments..were ready..to rush out on the enemy's wings. 1827 Robinson Archæol. Græca iv. ix. (ed. 2) 372 The military testudo,..was when the soldiers were drawn up close to each other, and the rear ranks, bowing themselves, placed their targets above their heads. |
c. transf. and fig. (See quots.)
| 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., Testudo,..is now applied to objects..employed as defenses for miners, etc. when working in ground or rock which is liable to cave in. 1903 Daily Chron. 30 Mar. 6/4 The stands were crowded, and a vast ‘testudo’ of gleaming umbrellas showed during those wild two hours how much the wretched dared. |
4. Anc. Music. (See quots.)
| 1702 Sir T. Molyneux in Phil. Trans. XXIII. 1270 Who..could compose such sweet Harmony upon the Guilded Lyre or Testudo. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Testudo, in antiquity, was particularly used among the poets, &c. for the ancient lyre; by reason it was originally made, by its inventor Mercury of the..shell of a..sea tortoise. 1776 Burney Hist. Mus. (1789) I. i. 294 It is disputed whether this lyre is the same as the cithara or testudo. |
5. Comb., as testudo-shaped adj.
| 1875 J. H. Pollen Anc. & Mod. Furn. 19 Occasionally they were covered in wholly with a testudo-shaped roof. |