Crossword clues for testudo
testudo
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Testudo \Tes*tu"do\, n.; pl. Testudines. [L., from testa the shell of shellfish, or of testaceous animals.]
(Zo["o]l.) A genus of tortoises which formerly included a large number of diverse forms, but is now restricted to certain terrestrial species, such as the European land tortoise ( Testudo Gr[ae]ca) and the gopher of the Southern United States.
(Rom. Antiq.) A cover or screen which a body of troops formed with their shields or targets, by holding them over their heads when standing close to each other. This cover resembled the back of a tortoise, and served to shelter the men from darts, stones, and other missiles. A similar defense was sometimes formed of boards, and moved on wheels.
(Mus.) A kind of musical instrument. a species of lyre; -- so called in allusion to the lyre of Mercury, fabled to have been made of the shell of a tortoise.
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context historical Roman antiquity English) A shelter formed by a body of troops by holding their shields or targets close together over their heads. 2 (context music English) A kind of lyre; so called in allusion to the lyre of Mercury, fabled to have been made of the shell of a tortoise.
WordNet
n. a movable protective covering that provided protection from above; used by Roman troops when approaching the walls of a besieged fortification
type genus of the Testudinidae [syn: genus Testudo]
[also: testudines (pl)]
Wikipedia
Testudo (which meant " tortoise" in classical Latin) may refer to:
- Testudo (turtle), a genus of tortoises
- Testudo, the Latin variant of the Greek chelys harp, involving a sound-box made from a tortoise shell
- Testudo, name used in medieval Latin for the lute
- The testudo formation, a Roman military tactic, where a formation of soldiers used their shields to form a tortoise-shell-like protective cover against incoming missiles
- Battering ram, an armored siege engine of antiquity, with metal plating on the top to protect from missiles fired from above
- The name of the official mascot of the University of Maryland, College Park, a diamondback terrapin
- Testudo – Pisces (constellation)#Asterisms and subdivison, an obsolete constellation now in the constellation of Pisces
Usage examples of "testudo".
The few Slovenes had fled, abandoning the testudo and diving into the water.
This shelter was known as a testudo, meaning tortoise: the shelter looked like the shell, and the ram like the a head going in and out.
Moats and ditches would have to be bridged or filled to allow the testudo to approach the wall: when they reached the wall, the wheels of the testudo would either be removed or stakes driven into the ground to keep the testudo from rolling back with the impact of the ram.
Defenders would attack the testudo, attempting to smash it or set it on fire, or use grappling hooks and ropes to try to snare the ram itself.
Huy assured him, and as he spoke the distant axemen formed up quickly into the testudo formation, an armoured tortoise of shields, and they trotted out between the enclosing arms of spearmen, beating the encircling movement with minutes to spare.
Huy drove through all of them, his shields locked in the testudo formation, immune to the press of black men at the rear and the greasy billows of black smoke which spread over him.
Arrows whined through the air, glancing off trees and rocks, but I reached the testudo unscathed.
With no chance to regroup and re-form the testudo, we were left to fight for our lives hand to hand.
He showed them how to form the classical Roman Testudo, their shields overlapping and locked like the scales of an armadillo.
The black warriors had locked their shields together into the solid carapace of the testudo and, with their pikes thrust through the gaps, the pirates could not stand before their charge.
Trained infantry, incidentally, might move rapidly through the streets of a city with shields locked over their heads, much in the fashion of the Roman testudo, but this formation requires discipline and precision, martial virtues not to be expected in high degree of the rebels of Tharna.
One testudo was directly north of the city, a second northwest, and the third almost directly west, a three-pronged attack that would pressure the two main outer walls.
I do not mistake, sir, you are the gentleman to whom we owe Testudo aubreii And, good Heavens now I come to reflect perhaps the Captain is that glorious reptile s godfather?
May I ask whether you are any kin to the famous Mr Aubrey of Testudo aubreii, that most splendid of the tortoise kind?
Goliath, who paused in perfect view, so well turned to the light that they could even count his plates, comparing them with those of Testudo aubreii on the Indian Ocean, which Maturin had discovered, described and named, giving Jack his only likelihood of earthly immortality, and with the thin-shelled and lighter though still respectable tortoise of Rodriguez.