TURTLE

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English turtla, from Latin turtur Date: before 12th century ~dove , II. noun (plural ~s; also ~) Usage: often attributive Etymology: modification of French tortue, from Late Latin (bestia) tartarucha, feminine of tartaruchus of Tartarus, from Greek tartarouchos, from Tartaros Tartarus; from Mithraic and early Christian association of the ~ with infernal forces Date: 1612 any of an order (Testudines syn. Chelonia) of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine reptiles that have a toothless horny beak and a shell of bony dermal plates usually covered with horny shields enclosing the trunk and into which the head, limbs, and tail usually may be withdrawn, III. noun Date: 1952 ~neck