turtle

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A reptile with a hard protective shell, living on land or in water.

   A sea turtle slowly made its way up the beach to lay its eggs.

2. 2
   verb

   To flip over onto its back or top; to turn upside down.

   The car hit the curb at speed and turtled into the ditch.

3. 3
   verb

   To move along very slowly.

   We turtled along the muddy road for hours.

Common collocations

• musk turtle Noun + noun

Modification of Middle English tortou, tortu, from Old French tortüe (under the influence of Middle English turtel, turtur (“turtledove”), see Etymology 2 below), from Medieval Latin tortuca (compare Spanish tortuga), the same source of tortoise (see there for more). Displaced native Old English byrdling (See birdling).

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images