Now rare or arch. Forms: 1 turtla, 1– turtle, 3 (Orm.) turrtle, 3–5 turtul, 4 tortle, 4–5 turtill, 4–6 -il, (5 -yl, -yle, -ylle, 5–6 -yll), (5 turckell), 5 tyrtle, 6 tyrtyll, turtell. [OE. turtla masc., turtle fem. = OHG. turtulo masc., turtula fem. (Du. tortel fem.): either dim. or dissimilated form of L. turtur TURTUR with r-l for r-r (cf. Sp. and It. tortola, It. tortora). For other Germanic forms see TURTLE-DOVE.]
1. = TURTLE-DOVE 1. (Often mentioned as a type of conjugal affection and constancy: cf. 2.)
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Th.), lxxxiii[i]. 3. Him eac spedlice spearuwa hus begyteð, and tidlice turtle nistlað.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke ii. 24. Twa turtlan oððe tweʓen culfran briddas.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 49. Turtle ne wile habbe no make bute on and after þat non … Þe bitocninge þat is imene turtlen and duues…. Eiðer turtles and duues habbet sorinesse for song.
c. 1200. Ormin, 7588. Tweȝȝenn cullfre briddess … Oþþr … tweȝȝen turtless.
1382. Wyclif, Ps. lxxxiii. 4 [lxxxiv. 3]. Forsothe the sparowe fonde to hym an hous; and the turtil a nest.
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., ciii. 104. Pytous as turtyll.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 373/2. Lyke a turtle that allone without make waylleth and wepeth.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 118. As louyng to him, as the Turtle to her make.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., IV. iv. 154. Your hand (my Perdita:) so Turtles paire That neuer meane to part.
1670. G. H., Hist. Cardinals, I. III. 91. A Mass is sung, and his Holiness presented with two young Turtles.
1713. Steele, Guard., No. 22, ¶ 2. [She] kept a pair of turtles cooing in her chamber.
1802. Montagu, Ornith. Dict., s.v. Dove-turtle, The Turtle visits the southern parts of England in the spring.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour (1861), III. 64. His pigeon-cote … is no longer stocked with carriers,… jacobins,… turtles.
1860. Chr. G. Rossetti, O. & N. Year Ditties, iii. Turtle calleth turtle in Heaven’s May.
b. Greenland turtle, Sea-turtle, names for the Black Guillemot: see GREENLAND 1, SEA-TURTLE1.
2. fig. Applied to a person, as a term of endearment, etc. (cf. DOVE sb. 2 d), or (esp.) to lovers or married folk, in allusion to the turtle dove’s affection for its mate.
14[?]. Lydg., Balade Commend. Our Lady, 78. O trusty turtle, trewest of al trewe.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., lxix. 312 (Harl. MS.). I shal be turtill in your absence þat hadde lost hire make.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VII., 20 b. Hym that … watched, howe to … steale thys turtle oute of her mewe and lodgynge.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. iii. 211. Berow. Will these Turtles be gone? Kin. Hence sirs, away.
1693. Humours Town, 24. The Fool … concludes her the most constant pretty cooing Turtle in the Nation.
1717. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to Pope, 1 April. Several couple of true turtles … saying soft things to one another.
1855. E. W. Benson, in Life (1899), I. vi. 232. I am a solitary Turtle (Dove, not Reptile) just now, my wife being at Rugby.
3. attrib. and Comb., as turtle love, pigeon, wing; turtle-billing, -footed, -haunted, -like, -winged adjs.; † turtle-bird, the young of the turtle dove.
1598. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum., I. iv. The happy state of *Turtle-billing lovers.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 47. Gif hie was riche wimman, a lomb, gif hie was bitwene two, two *turtle briddes, gif hie was poure, two duue briddes.
1599. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Hum., Epil. Let … The throat of War be stopt…, And *turtle-footed Peace dance fairy rings About her court.
1624. Ford & Dekker, Sun’s Darling, V. i. And turtle-footed peace Dance like a fairy through his realms.
1873. T. L. Kingsbury, Comm. Song Sol., iii. The *turtle-haunted groves.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, IV. (1629), 415. Lamenting … such as the *turtle-like loue is wont to make for the euer ouer-soone losse of her onely loued make.
1669. Dryden, Tyrannic Love, III. i. Then, turtle-like, I’ll to my mate repair.
1608. Topsell, Serpents (1658), 784. Such faithfull dealing, uprightnesse of conscience, and *Turtle love.
1819. Stephens, in Shaw, Gen. Zool., XI. 72. *Turtle Pigeon, Columba Turtur.… Pigeon with the tail-feathers white at their tips, the back griseous, the breast vinaceous, a black spot on the sides of the neck, with white stripes, the abdomen white.
1629. Milton, Nativity, Hymn, iii. Peace … With *Turtle wing the amorous clouds dividing.
1821. R. S. Hawker, Cornish Ballads, etc. (1908), 249. As on turtle-wings the moments fleet.
1745. Akenside, Ode on Lyric Poetry, 18. While *turtle-wing’d the laughing hours … Lead youth, and love, and harmless joy.
Hence (nonce-wds.) Turtlish a., having the character or qualities of a turtle-dove; Turtlize v., trans. to turn into or make like a turtle-dove.
1855. Fraser’s Mag., LI. 229. The most *turtleish of doves.
1798. Southey, Lett. (1856), I. 59. I am softened, *turtleised, yea, a very lamb!
