Also 7 tortel. [app. a corruption, by English sailors, of the earlier tortue, or the French original of this (see TORTOISE), assimilated to the known word TURTLE sb.1]
1. Any species of marine tortoise; also extended to various other tortoises. (Pl. turtles, collectively usually turtle.)
As to the varying application of the names tortoise and turtle, see the note to sense 1 of the former word.
With defining words, applied to various species, as box-turtle (BOX sb.2 24), DIAMOND-BACKED t., HAWK’S-BILL t., LAND t., LEATHER-t., loggerhead t. (LOGGERHEAD 6 a), MUD t., PAINTED t., SEA-TURTLE2, SNAPPING-t., SOFT-SHELLED t., TRUNK-t. (see these words); alligator-turtle, the snapping turtle, also called alligator tortoise (ALLIGATOR 3); bastard turtle, Thalassochelys kempi; chicken-turtle, Chrysemys reticulata, also called chicken-tortoise; greaved turtle, any species of the genus Podocnemis; green turtle, various species of Chelonia, having green shells, as C. midas of the W. Indies and C. virgata of the Pacific, both much esteemed as food; horned turtle, an extinct turtle of the genus Miolania, having projections at the back of the skull like the ‘horned toad.’
1657. North’s Plutarch, Add. Lives, 90. He took a Shipboard … fourty Parrots, many Tortels, and many other Animals strange to our World.
1657. R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673). The Loggerhead Turtle,… the Hawks bill Turtle…. A third kind called the Green Turtle,… far excelling the other two, in wholesomness, and Rareness of taste.
1689. Relat. Sufferings H. Pitman, 22. We walked along the sea shore to watch for tortoise or turtle.
1712. E. Cooke, Voy. S. Sea, 13. Sea Tortoises, or, as the Sea-men call them, Turtle.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. 101. June 17. I spent in cooking the Turtle; I found in her threescore Eggs.
1745. P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 105. Great Quantity of Tortoises, or, as the Seamen call them, Turtles.
1785. Jackson’s Oxford Jrnl., 16 July. Dressing a very fine lively Chicken Turtle … supplied … at 6/- per quart or 10/6. the Tureen.
1792. Mar. Riddell, Voy. Madeira, 63. Four species of turtle are found on the shores of this island—the green-turtle, the hawk’s-bill,… the logger-head, and the land-tortoise.
1839–40. W. Irving, Wolfert’s R., v. (1855), 75. The island abounded with turtle, and great quantities of their eggs were to be found among the rocks.
1870. Yeats, Nat. Hist. Comm., 114. Turtles abound in the enclosed seas of Central America.
b. The flesh of various species of turtle used as food; also short for turtle-soup. (See also MOCK TURTLE.)
Often mentioned or alluded to as a feature of civic banquets.
1755. World, No. 123, ¶ 3. Of all the improvements in the modern kitchen, there are none that can bear a comparison with the introduction of Turtle.
1780. T. Davies, Mem. Garrick (1781), II. xxxviii. 122. High seasoned venison, delicious turtle, and excellent claret.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xxvii. He … had dined on horse-flesh and turtle with equal relish.
1859. Habits Gd. Society, xi. 310. A light soup is better than a thick one,… turtle is only fit for an alderman.
† c. Short for turtle-dinner or turtle-feast. Obs.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl., 30 April. I … have almost prevailed upon uncle to give him a small turtle at the Bear.
1785. A. C. Bower, Diaries & Corr., 16 Sept. (1903), 29. Tuesday next the good people at Dulish intend giving a Turtle and the Misses have prevailed on their Mother to add a little Hop in the Evening by way of helping Digestion. Ibid. (1788), 49. We were at Whatcombe Tuesday—a large party and a turtle.
2. To turn turtle. a. lit. To catch turtle by throwing them on their backs.
1689. Relat. Sufferings H. Pitman, 20. They going ashore on the Main to turn Turtle, were set upon by the Indians.
1861. Du Chaillu, Equat. Afr., iv. 25. Turtle frequent the shores, and are ‘turned’ in considerable numbers.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., To turn a turtle, to take the animal by seizing a flipper, and throwing him on his back, which renders him quite helpless.
b. fig. (in earlier use to turn the turtle.) To turn over, capsize, be upset.
1842. Marryat, Perc. Keene, xxiii. But ‘turning the turtle’ is not making a quick passage, except to the other world. Ibid. (1843), M. Violet, xli. The canoe turned the turtle with them.
1772. Pennsylvania Packet, 13 July, 3/1. Capt. Davis hoisted out his yawl, took two boys with him and went on board of Capt. Burke’s brig, and the latter, with two boys, accompanied the former in his yawl to Swan’s Island, to turn turtle.
1860. All Year Round, No. 66. 384. If the wind catches that ’ere, she’ll turn turtle at once.
1896. Daily News, 2 July, 9/1. An engine and two trucks had turned turtle on the embankment.
† 3. American turtle: = TORPEDO sb. 2. Obs.
1775–83. J. Thacher, Milit. Jrnl. (1823), 75. A singular machine invented for destroying the British Shipping by explosion…. American Turtle or Torpedo.
4. Typog. A curved bed in which types or stereotypes are secured, and which is mounted on one of the cylinders of a rotary printing-press: so called from a fancied resemblance of the bed to the back of a turtle.
1860. Ure’s Dict. Arts (ed. 5), III. 540. An American [printing] machine, the invention of R. Hoe and Company…. Each page is locked up upon a detached segment of the large cylinder, called by the compositors a ‘turtle.’
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 1797/2. The type is secured in turtles, or the stereotype is bent to the curve of the cylinder.
5. attrib. and Comb., as turtle-catcher, -chase, -dinner, -eater, -egg, -feast, -fishery, -fishing, -skeleton, -soup; turtle-corral = turtle-crawl (a); turtle cowry, a large species of cowry, Cypræa testudinaria; turtle-crab, a minute species of crab parasitic upon turtles and other marine animals; turtle-crawl, (a) [CRAWL sb.2] an enclosure in which turtles are kept; (b) [CRAWL sb.1] ‘the track of a turtle to and from its nest’ (Cent. Dict., 1891); turtle-deck = TURTLE-BACK 1; turtle-egging, the gathering of turtles’ eggs (Cent. Dict., 1891); turtle-frolic (colloq.), a turtle-feast; turtle-grass, name for two marine plants with long narrow grass-like leaves: (a) Thalassia testudinum, of the W. Indies, etc.; (b) the grass-wrack, Zostera marina; turtle-head, a N. American scrophulariaceous plant, Chelone glabra, allied to Pentstemon, so called from the shape of the flower; turtle-insect, a widely distributed species of scale-insect, Coccus (Lecanium) hesperidum; turtle-kraal = turtle-crawl (a); turtle-net, a net for catching turtle; turtle-peg, a prong fastened to a pole or cord used for harpooning turtles (= PEG sb.1 8 a); hence turtle-pegger, one who uses a turtle-peg to catch turtles; turtle-pegging, the catching of turtles with a turtle-peg; turtle-press, a printing-press in which a ‘turtle’ (sense 4) is (or was) used; turtle-shell, (a) the shell of a turtle; the material of this, tortoise-shell; (b) = turtle-cowry; turtle-stone = SEPTARIUM 2 (from the markings on section resembling those of a tortoise-shell); turtle-twine, twine for making turtle-nets.
1726. G. Roberts, Four Yrs. Voy., 5. There might be some *Turtle-catchers here since the last Turtle Season.
1815. J. Campbell, Trav. S. Afr., xlii. 501. We were detained till noon next day … for the turtle catchers.
1860. Wraxall, Life in Sea, iv. 90. A picturesque description of such a *Turtle-chase on Ascension Island.
1838. Penny Cycl., XI. 362/1. Nautilograpsus minutus … *Turtle Crab, Browne;… M. Milne Edwards … sees no sufficient reason for distinguishing this species from Grapsus testudinum, Roux.
1833. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, xvi. (1859), 420. The *Turtle Crawls filled with beautiful clear water.
1903. Daily Mail, 9 Sept., 5/3. A turtle crawl in Kingston, where over two hundred turtles were confined awaiting shipment,… was broken up by the force of the sea during the cyclone in Jamaica.
1889. Cent. Dict., s.v. Deck, The *turtle-deck or turtle-backed deck … is a convex deck extending a short distance aft from the stem of an ocean steamer to shed the water in a head sea; in many … steamships … there is a similar arrangement on the stern.
1908. Daily Chron., 15 May, 8/6. The engines of the launch were not running…. Mr. Moody and Mr. Smith stood on the turtle deck at the bow.
1805. in Edin. Rev., July, 357. Who freely give two guineas for a *turtle dinner at the tavern.
a. 1774. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 430. Your *turtle eaters, city feast hunters, and persons who live in a continual round of pleasures.
1760. Garrick, Prol. to Murphy’s Desert Isl., 22. Keep *turtle-eating Aldermen awake.
1860. Wraxall, Life in Sea, iv. 87. Our two soldiers … stopped … to dig *turtle eggs out of the sand.
1753. H. Walpole, Lett. (1846), III. 12. Knightly … has been entertaining all the parishes round with a *turtle-feast.
1760. Lyttleton, Dial. Dead, xix. 204. A Turtle feast is a Novelty to me.
1767. Goldsm., Ess., Let. Common-council-man. The mayor and aldermen … celebrating the royal nuptials by a magnificent turtle feast.
1793. Ld. H. Spencer, in Ld. Auckland’s Corr. (1862), III. 112. Count Bernstorff gave us a turtle-feast at his château.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xli. An alderman coming from a turtle feast will not step out of his carriage to steal a leg of mutton. Ibid., xx. A parcel of *turtle-fed tradesmen.
1834. Tait’s Mag., I. 390/2. Your *turtle-feeding Aldermen.
1707. Sloane, Jamaica, I. Introd. 87. The *Turtle-fishery … thought … to be ours by right…. The *Turtle-fishing … pretended to by the French of the Island Tortugas.
1904. Westm. Gaz., 12 April, 9/2. The crews of the six Caymans turtle-fishing vessels … were seized … by the Nicaraguan Government for alleged fishing in territorial waters.
1727. M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888), I. 205. I received a polite invitation from Governor Brown … to join them in a *Turtle frolic.
1886. Bynner, A. Surriage, xv. There was a turtle-frolic at Cambridge.
1735. Mortimer, in Phil. Trans., XXXIX. 116. Alga marina, gramineo angustissimo folio.… *Turtle-Grass: It grows at the Bottom of the Sea in shallow Water.
1756. P. Browne, Jamaica, 71. The small grassy-leaf’d Alga or Turtle-grass.
1871. Kingsley, At Last, vi. Manatis … coming in … to browse on mangrove shoots and turtle-grass.
1884. Miller, Plant-n., Thalassia testudinum, Manatee-grass, Turtle-grass. Ibid., Zostera marina, Bellware,… Grass Wrack…, Turtle grass.
1857. Gray, First Less. Bot. (1866), 94. The fifth stamen … appears in the … *Turtlehead as a sort of filament without any anther.
1896. E. G. Lodeman, Spraying of Plants, I. i. 10. Corrosive sublimate … dissolved in spirits, and … added to the water … possesses the power of destroying the brown *turtle (scale) insect, white scaly coccus, pine bug [etc.].
1885. Lady Brassey, The Trades, 353. What they call a *‘turtle-kraal,’ consisting of a large tank, in which were a number of turtle.
1865. Thoreau, Cape Cod, x. 202. The *turtle-like sheds of the salt-works were crowded into every nook in the hills.
1898. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 295. He sits … turtle-like, with his neck dropped into his chest.
1906. Westm. Gaz., 20 June, 8/2. A great turtle-like head, with large eyes.
1794. *Turtle-nets [see turtle-twine].
1839. Capt. Wilson, in Mag. Nat. Hist., Oct., 519. They had got a large saw-fish entangled in their turtle-net.
1828. Webster, *Turtle-shell, a shell, a beautiful species of Murex; also, tortoise-shell.
1845. J. Coulter, Adv. Pacific, x. 126. Round it [sc. the hut] were scattered a number of terrapin and turtle shells.
1860. Wraxall, Life in Sea, iv. 88. Hundreds of *Turtle skeletons lying about.
1763. Smollett, Trav., xi. (1766), I. 190. As for the *turtle-soupe, it is a good restorative.
1846. A. Soyer, Syst. Cookery, 85. Turtle Soup. This soup, the delight of civic corporations,… has been, and perhaps ever will be, the leading article of English cookery. Ibid., 87. Clear Turtle Soup.
1851. De la Beche, Geol. Observer, 687. Those commonly known as septaria and *turtle stones.
1859. R. Hunt, Guide Mus. Pract. Geol. (ed. 2), 32. Good specimens of septaria or turtle stone from the Oxford clay.
1766. W. Gordon, Gen. Counting-ho., 386. 3 cwt. 2 qrs. 18 lb. *turtle twine.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 65. Turtle-twine, for turtle-nets, is made of good bar hemp.
Hence Turtledom, a collective name for those who eat turtle (i.e., spec. London aldermen), or for their practices, methods, etc.; Turtly a., addicted to or habitually eating turtle. (Cf. 1 b.)
1851. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 29 May, 3/1. It is, indeed, a very soup-erior article, and we never suspected that *Turtledom could turn out anything so delicious in the way of edibles.
1893. Punch, 4 March, 102/1. Turtledom feareth what Turtledom deems The perils of—Unification!
1894. Woolacott (title), The Curse of Turtledom: an Exposé of the Methods and Extravagant Expenditure of the Livery Companies.
1900. Daily News, 26 Nov., 4/1. They appeal as much to the epicure of turtledom as to the vegetarian.
1868. Cosmopolitan, 25 July, 334. We doubt … if the most *turtly Alderman out can beat in legal acumen Monsieur le Juge de Paix de la Nièvre.
