cooter

[ koo-ter ]
/ ˈku tər /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR cooter ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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

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to waver in mind or opinion; be indecisive or irresolute.
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Origin of cooter

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

Words nearby cooter

coorie, Coos, Coos Bay, coot, cootch, cooter, cootie, cooty, Coover, co-own, cooze
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Words related to cooter

tortoise, slowpoke, chelonian, snapper, terrapin, leatherback, loggerhead, testudinal

Example sentences from the Web for cooter

  • Democrats have only the dude who played “Cooter” on The Dukes of Hazard to crow about.

    Hollywood's Dirty Secret|John Avlon|May 14, 2009|DAILY BEAST

  • The cooter is the terrapin, and a very expert boatman he is.

    Letters of a Traveller|William Cullen Bryant

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

    Our Southern Highlanders|Horace Kephart