Definition of "turtle"

turtle¹

/ˈtɜːtl̩/

noun
plural turtles
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.
  Quotations
  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.
  Quotations
  Using an appropriate turtle allows the full range of pan and tilt adjustments on the luminaire and avoids possible heat damage to floor coverings.
  Alan Bermingham, Location Lighting for Television
verb
third-person singular simple present turtles, present participle turtling, simple past and past participle turtled
1. (intransitive) To flip over onto the back or top; to turn upside down.
  Quotations
  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.
  Quotations
  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.
  Quotations
  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.
  Quotations
  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.

turtle²

/ˈtɜːtl̩/

noun
plural turtles
1. (now rare, archaic) A turtle dove.
  Quotations
  The same he tooke, and with a riband new, / In which his Ladies colours were, did bind / About the turtles neck […] .
  1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie
  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

Definition of "turtle"

turtle1

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turtle2

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turtle¹

turtle²