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An old measure of length in France, containing six French feet, or about 6.3946 French feet.

The gunwale of a ship. To lower the yards a-portoise, to lower them to the gunwale. -- To ride a portoise, to ride an anchor with the lower yards and topmasts struck or lowered, as in a gale of wind.

Same as Testudo, 2. Box tortoise, Land tortoise, etc. See under Box, Land, etc. -- Painted tortoise. (Zoöl.) See Painted turtle, under Painted. -- Soft-shell tortoise. (Zoöl.) See Trionyx. -- Spotted tortoise. (Zoöl.) A small American fresh-water tortoise (Chelopus, or Nanemys, quttatus) having a blackish carapace o…

ed grain." Dryden. Bearded vulture, Bearded eagle. (Zoöl.) See Lammergeir. -- Bearded tortoise. (Zoöl.) See Matamata.

five large ones of the middle, of the carapace of the sea turtle, which yield the best tortoise shell. De Colange.

Decorative woodwork in which tortoise shell, yellow metal, white metal, etc., are inlaid, forming scrolls, cartouches, etc. [Written also boule, boulework.]

s, craving quick despatch, Importunes personal conference. Shak. What business has the tortoise among the clouds L'Estrange.

The thick shell or sheild which cover the back of the tortoise, or turtle, the crab, and other crustaceous animals.

en pure resembling ivory in texture and color, but variously colored to imitate coral, tortoise shell, amber, malachite, etc. It is used in the manufacture of jewelry and many small articles, as combs, brushes, collars, and cuffs; -- originaly called xylonite.

An order of reptiles, including the tortoises and turtles, perculiar in having a part of the vertebræ, ribs, and sternum united with the dermal plates so as to form a firm shell. The jaws are covered by a horny beak. See Reptilia; also, Illust. in Appendix.

Of or pertaining to animals of the tortoise kind. -- n.

A fresh-water tortoise (Pseudemus concinna) of Florida.

rds their eggs. [Obs.] Not being able to cove or sit upon them [eggs], she [the female tortoise] bestoweth them in the gravel. Holland.

To brood; to incubate. [Obs.] [Tortoises] covey a whole year before they hatch. Holland.

The oval or roundish body laid by domestic poultry and other birds, tortoises, etc. It consists of a yolk, usually surrounded by the "white" or albumen, and inclosed in a shell or strong membrane.

ssive rootstock covered with a kind of bark cracked with deep fissures; -- called also tortoise plant. The interior part is barely edible, whence the plant is also called Hottentot's bread. (b) A genus (Elephantopus) of coarse, composite weeds. -- Elephant's tusk (Zoöl.), the tooth shell. See Dentalium.…

the epoch distinguished by the existence of large pachyderms. Mantell. -- Elephantine tortoise (Zoöl.), a huge land tortoise; esp., Testudo elephantina, from islands in the Indian Ocean; and T. elephantopus, from the Galapagos Islands.

A fresh-water tortoise (Chelopus marmoratus) of California; -- used as food.

One of a tribe of tortoises, including the terrapins, etc., in which the head and neck can be withdrawn.

A fresh-water tortoise of the family Emydidæ.