turtle

Etymology 1

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.

noun

1. (zoology, US, Canada) Any land or marine reptile of the order Testudines, characterised by a protective shell enclosing its body. See also tortoise.
2. (zoology, Australia, Britain, specifically) A marine reptile of that order.
3. (military, historical) An Ancient Roman attack method, where the shields held by the soldiers hide them, not only left, right, front and back, but also from above.
4. (computing) A type of robot having a domed case (and so resembling the reptile), used in education, especially for making line drawings by means of a computer program.
5. (computing) An on-screen cursor that serves the same function as a turtle for drawing.
   Depending on which version of Logo you have, the turtle may look like an actual animal with a head and four legs or — as in Berkeley Logo — it may be represented as a triangle. 1997, Brian Harvey, Computer Science Logo Style: Symbolic computing
6. (printing, historical) The curved plate in which the form is held in a type-revolving cylinder press.
7. (computing theory) A small element towards the end of a list of items to be bubble sorted, and thus tending to take a long time to be swapped into its correct position. Compare rabbit.
8. (dance) A breakdancing move consisting of a float during which the dancer's weight shifts from one hand to the other, producing rotation or a circular "walk".
9. (television) A low stand for a lamp etc.
   Alan Bermingham, Location Lighting for Television Using an appropriate turtle allows the full range of pan and tilt adjustments on the luminaire and avoids possible heat damage to floor coverings.

verb

1. (intransitive) To flip over onto the back or top; to turn upside down.
   Were speeding when car turtled […] Auto crashed into curb and turtled. 1919, Iowa Highway Commission, Service Bulletin, Issues 15-32, page 48
2. (intransitive) To move along slowly.
   We turtled along in Manitoba, back into the heart of the prairies. 2012, Sophie B. Watson, Cadillac Couches, page 193
3. (intransitive) To turn and swim upside down.
   I turtled my board beneath it, flipped upright, and started paddling again. 2009, Amy Waeschle, Chasing Waves: A Surfer's Tale of Obsessive Wandering, page 149
4. (intransitive) To hunt turtles, especially in the water.
   Of these, 80 turtled (65%), 26 hunted and turtled (20%), and 18 hunted (15%). 1973, Bernard Nietschmann, Between Land and Water: The Subsistence Ecology of the Miskito Indians, page 153
5. (video games, board games) To build up a large defense force and strike only occasionally, rather than going for an offensive strategy.

Etymology 2

From Middle English turtle, tortle, turtel, turtul, from Old English turtle, turtla (“turtledove”), ultimately from Latin turtur (“turtledove”), of imitative origin.

noun

1. (now rare, archaic) A turtle dove.
   As the turtle, every day has been a black day with her since her husband died, and what should we unruly members make here? 1613, John Marston, William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, I.1