cooter

[koo-ter]

noun

1. Chiefly Southern U.S.,  any of several large aquatic turtles of the southern U.S. and northern Mexico.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cooter¹

1820–30; said to be < Bambara, Malinke kuta turtle (with related forms in other Niger-Congo languages); compare coot to copulate (of sea turtles), first attested in the Caribbean in 1667

Example Sentences

Menu includes venison, quail, cooter, frog legs and alligator.

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The red-bellied cooter is a state and federally listed endangered species.

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A “cooter” is a box-tortoise, and the noun is turned into a verb with an ease characteristic of the mountaineers.

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The owl is hooting to the night, The cooter crawling o'er the bank, And in that pond the flashing light Tells where the alligator sank.

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The owl is hooting to the night, The cooter crawling o’er the bank, And in that pond the flashing light Tells where the alligator sank.

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Related Words

• tortoise