[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/tortoise.html)

[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [The school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/) / tortoise

[← T](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/T/)

# tortoise

«tortoise» in Mova's school dictionary: **a slow animal with a hard, high shell that lives on land…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (tortoise, tortoises)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A tortoise is a slow animal with a hard, high shell that lives on land and can pull its head and legs inside the shell. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoise/#m1)

2) Tortoises can live a very long time, some more than 100 years. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoise/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

Maths: an animal counted; often slow speed, age or a race: distance = speed × time. Science: tortoises are reptiles; they eat plants; tortoise (land) vs turtle (mostly water). Stories: «The Tortoise and the Hare» — slow and steady wins the race.

### examples

- The zoo has 5 tortoises. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoise/#x1)
- A tortoise walks 2 meters a minute. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoise/#x2)
- The tortoise is 80 years old. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoise/#x3)
- The hare ran 10 times as fast as the tortoise. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoise/#x4)
- In the story, the slow tortoise won the race. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoise/#x5)
- Giant tortoises live on the Galapagos Islands. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoise/#x6)
- Our pet tortoise sleeps all winter in a box of straw. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoise/#x7)
- The Tortoise was very glad indeed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoise/#x8)

### note

Countable: a tortoise, tortoises; said «TOR-tus». The thing counted or a mover with a speed; distance = speed × time. Trap: a tortoise lives on land; a turtle lives mostly in water (in the US people may call both turtles).

### In the corpora

- [Jonathan, a giant tortoise on the island of St Helena, hatched around 1832 and is the oldest known living land animal.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/31-turtles-and-tortoises/8/)
- [Mediterranean tortoises hibernate, and owners guided by a vet keep them steady at about 5 degrees so they neither wake early nor freeze.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/55-sleep-and-hibernation/16/)
- [A tortoise's shell is part of its skeleton, joined to its ribs and backbone, so it can never leave it.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/88-reptile-house-komodo-chameleons-tortoises-crocodiles/10/)
- [Lonesome George, the last tortoise of his kind from Pinta Island, died in 2012.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/180-the-galapagos-giant-tortoises-sea-iguanas-darwins-finches-and-tame-sea-lions/5/)
- [Jonathan, a giant tortoise on St Helena who hatched around 1832, is thought to be the oldest known living land animal.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/187-record-breakers-the-loudest-and-the-longest-lived/11/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «tortoise» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tortoise/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.