# tortoise

Pronunciation: US say "TOR-tuhs" /ˈtɔɹ.təs/; UK say "TAW-tuhs" /ˈtɔː.təs/

## Noun

1. A land-dwelling reptile whose body is enclosed in a shell of carapace and plastron, able to withdraw its head and legs partially inside for protection from predators.
   - Simple: A slow-moving land reptile that carries a hard shell and can pull its head and legs inside for safety.
   - _The tortoise withdrew into its shell as our footsteps approached._
   - _Giant tortoises on the island can live well over a century._
2. A wheeled protective shelter under which attacking soldiers advanced toward fortifications, shielding them from missiles thrown down from above.
   - Simple: A movable wooden shelter on wheels that soldiers in the past hid under while attacking a wall.
   - _Sappers sheltered beneath the tortoise while they undermined the city wall._
   - _The defenders poured boiling pitch onto the tortoise creeping toward the gate._

## Origin

From Middle English tortuse (also tortuce, tortuge), from Medieval Latin tortuca, of uncertain origin. It may derive from Late Latin tartarūcha, from Ancient Greek ταρταροῦχος (tartaroûkhos, 'holder of Tartarus, the land of the dead'), since tortoises and turtles were once thought to come from the underworld; alternatively it may come from Latin tortus ('twisted'). The Modern English spelling tortoise may have been influenced by porpoise, and the word displaced native Old English byrdling.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/tortoise (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).