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tortoise

Syllabification: (tor·toise)
Pronunciation: /ˈtôrtəs/

Translate tortoise | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of tortoise

noun

  • 1a turtle, typically a herbivorous one that lives on land.
  • informal anything exceptionally slow-moving:you are a tortoise on the uptake today

Derivatives

tortoiselike

Pronunciation: /-ˌlīk/

adjective & adverb

Origin:

late Middle English tortu, tortuce: from Old French tortue and Spanish tortuga, both from medieval Latin tortuca, of uncertain origin. The current spelling dates from the mid 16th century

tortoise in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of tortoise in the British & World English dictionary