Adjacent Words

Testudo definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

TESTU'DO, n. [L.] A tortoise. Among the Romans, a cover or screen which a body of troops formed with their shields or targets, by holding them over their heads when standing close to each other. This cover resembled the back of a tortoise, and served to shelter the men from darts, stones, and other missiles. A similar defense was sometimes formed of boards and moved on wheels.
1. In medicine, a broad soft tumor between the skull and the skin, called also talpa or mole, as resembling the subterraneous windings of the tortoise or mole.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a movable protective covering that provided protection from above; used by Roman troops when approaching the walls of a besieged fortification
2: type genus of the Testudinidae [syn: Testudo, genus Testudo]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -dos) Etymology: Latin testudin-, testudo, literally, tortoise, tortoise shell; akin to Latin testa shell Date: 1609 a cover of overlapping shields or a shed wheeled up to a wall used by the ancient Romans to protect an attacking force

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -os or testudines) Rom.Hist. 1 a screen formed by a body of troops in close array with overlapping shields. 2 a movable screen to protect besieging troops. Etymology: L testudo -dinis, lit. 'tortoise' (as TEST(2))

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Testudo Tes*tu"do, n.; pl. Testudines. [L., from testa the shell of shellfish, or of testaceous animals.] 1. (Zo["o]l.) A genus of tortoises which formerly included a large number of diverse forms, but is now restricted to certain terrestrial species, such as the European land tortoise (Testudo Gr[ae]ca) and the gopher of the Southern United States. 2. (Rom. Antiq.) A cover or screen which a body of troops formed with their shields or targets, by holding them over their heads when standing close to each other. This cover resembled the back of a tortoise, and served to shelter the men from darts, stones, and other missiles. A similar defense was sometimes formed of boards, and moved on wheels. 3. (Mus.) A kind of musical instrument. a species of lyre; -- so called in allusion to the lyre of Mercury, fabled to have been made of the shell of a tortoise.