Definition of "turtle" []

• Any of various aquatic or terrestrial reptiles of the order Testudines (or Chelonia), having horny toothless jaws and a bony or leathery shell into which the head, limbs, and tail can be withdrawn in most species. (noun)
• Chiefly British A sea turtle. (noun)
• To hunt for turtles, especially as an occupation. (verb-intransitive)
• Nautical To capsize. (verb-intransitive)
• Archaic A turtledove. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "When I entered "Shark, dolphin, sea turtle" yesterday it returned a bogus phylogeny: [sea turtle+[shark+dolphin]]."
• "The name is a compound of the word _Misril_, signifying great, and _Mackinac_ the Indian word for turtle, from a fancied resemblance of the island to a _great turtle_ lying upon the water."
• "And they loved that he did not pretty them up, or dumb them down: he wrote in their language, in which a turtle is a turkle, a loose girl is a chippy, and the glowing mist in the trees on the ridge is the willow-wisp, come to spirit them away."