testudo

[ te-stoo-doh, -styoo- ]

/ tɛˈstu doʊ, -ˈstyu- /

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noun, plural tes·tu·di·nes

[te-stood-n-eez, -styood-]. /tɛˈstud nˌiz, -ˈstyud-/.

(among the ancient Romans) a movable shelter with a strong and usually fireproof arched roof, used for protection of soldiers in siege operations.

a shelter formed by overlapping oblong shields, held by soldiers above their heads.

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Origin of testudo

1350–1400 for earlier sense “tumor”; 1600–10 for def. 1; Middle English <Latin testūdō tortoise, tortoise shell, siege engine; akin to test²

Words nearby testudo

test tube, test-tube baby, test-tube skin, testudinal, testudinate, testudo, testy, Tet, tetanic, tetanize, tetanus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use testudo in a sentence

The elephant tortoise (Testudo Schweigeri) is often found on some islands, and in the marshy mouths of several rivers.
Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests|J. J. von Tschudi
It was a gigantic tortoise—a specimen of Testudo elephantopus—a huge cumbersome brute.
The Blue Germ|Martin Swayne
Hibbard's Testudo riggsi (Hibbard, 1944) is the best known of these smaller turtles.
Pliocene and Pleistocene Records of Fossil Turtles from Western Kansas and Oklahoma|Edwin C. Galbreath
Baguian is famed throughout those seas as a rookery for the giant tortoise—testudo elephantopus.
Where the Strange Trails Go Down|E. Alexander Powell

But I had no spare cash to lay out on stock, either in pigments or specimens of the genus testudo.
Mated from the Morgue|John Augustus O'Shea

British Dictionary definitions for testudo

testudo

/ (tɛˈstjuːdəʊ) /

noun plural -dines (-dɪˌniːz)

a form of shelter used by the ancient Roman Army for protection against attack from above, consisting either of a mobile arched structure or of overlapping shields held by the soldiers over their heads

Word Origin for testudo

C17: from Latin: a tortoise, from testa a shell

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012