/tawr"teuhs/ , n.
1. a turtle, esp. a terrestrial turtle.
2. a very slow person or thing.
3. testudo (def. 1).
[ 1350-1400; var. of earlier (15th-century) tortuse, tortose, tortuce, ME tortuca tortuca, for LL tartarucha (fem. adj.) of Tartarus ( tartaroûcha ), the tortoise being regarded as an infernal animal; ML form influenced by L tortus crooked, twisted (see TORT) ]