giant tortoise


noun
  1. any of several large tortoises of the genus Geochelone, of the Galápagos Islands and islands near Madagascar: some are endangered.

Origin of giant tortoise

1
First recorded in 1910–15

Words Nearby giant tortoise

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use giant tortoise in a sentence

  • Nor did he care to consider such examples of longevity as the giant tortoise and the Yellow Leaf.

    A Drake by George! | John Trevena
  • Baguian is famed throughout those seas as a rookery for the giant tortoise—testudo elephantopus.

    Where the Strange Trails Go Down | E. Alexander Powell
  • The giant tortoise was clearing the kitchen garden of young lettuces; the monkeys were collecting entomological specimens.

    A Drake by George! | John Trevena
  • The giant tortoise had transferred itself to his garden, having apparently engaged a wheelbarrow for that purpose.

    A Drake by George! | John Trevena
  • The enormous flatboat, that Suzanne had likened to a giant tortoise, darted now like an arrow, dragged by the current.

    Strange True Stories of Louisiana | George Washington Cable

British Dictionary definitions for giant tortoise

giant tortoise

noun
  1. any of various very large tortoises of the genus Testudo, of the Galápagos, Seychelles, and certain other islands, weighing up to 225 kilograms (495 lbs.)

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