TORTOISE

n. any of several species of terrestrial turtle, species of land-dwelling reptile with a hard dome-shaped shell

A tortoise or land turtle is a land-dwelling reptile of the order Testudines. Like their aquatic cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise has both an endoskeleton and an exoskeleton. Tortoises can vary in size from a few centimetres to two meters. Tortoises tend to be diurnal animals with tendencies to be crepuscular depending on the ambient temperatures. They are generally reclusive and shy.
See more at Wikipedia.org...

Noun
1. usually herbivorous land turtles having clawed elephant-like limbs; worldwide in arid area except Australia and Antarctica
(hypernym) turtle
(hyponym) European tortoise, Testudo graeca
(member-holonym) Testudinidae, family Testudinidae

(n.)
Same as Testudo, 2.
  

(n.)
having a color like that of a tortoise's shell, black with white and orange spots; -- used mostly to describe cats of that color.
  

(n.)
Any one of numerous species of reptiles of the order Testudinata.
  

(n.)
a tortoise-shell cat.
  

Tortoise In China, a favorite symbol, and Confucius regarded it as sacred; in India the same veneration is given to it, for in one of the preceding manvantaras Vishnu is said in the Puranas to have taken the form of a tortoise to uphold the earth and its beings; his second avatara is called the Tortoise or Kurma avatara.
The Satapatha-Brahmana tells of the collective creator, Prajapati, taking the form of a tortoise to create offspring, and it states that the name of one of the celebrated rishis, Kasyapa, means a tortoise. Also in Hindu astronomy the tortoise is prominent, for the host of stars and constellations are regarded as being placed on a rotating belt in the figure of a sisumara or tortoise.