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

It was a bit of payback by Ben Jones, who played Cooter in The Dukes of Hazzard and lost a House race to Gingrich.

From The Daily Beast

My daughter tells me that Bowler played Cooter, the werewolf in True Blood.

From The Daily Beast

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

From The Daily Beast

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

From Project Gutenberg

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

From Project Gutenberg

Stop it I say—would you kill a feller just for a doggoned old cooter?

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• tortoise