testudo

«testudo» in Mova's school dictionary: A testudo was a Roman army formation: soldiers stood… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a testudo, testudos or testudines); (science) Testudo — a genus of tortoises

meaning for a pupil

1) (history) A testudo was a Roman army formation: soldiers stood close together and held their shields in front of them and over their heads, like a tortoise's shell, to protect themselves from arrows and stones. tree →

2) (science) Testudo is the scientific name of a group of tortoises, such as the Greek tortoise and Hermann's tortoise. tree →

sense in the lessons

History lessons on the Romans: the testudo («tortoise» in Latin) let legionaries move up to enemy walls safely; pupils sometimes act it out with cardboard shields. Science: many pet tortoises in the UK are from the genus Testudo.

examples

• The legionaries formed a testudo to protect themselves. tree →
• In the testudo, the soldiers' shields made a roof. tree →
• Testudo is Latin for tortoise. tree →
• Our class made a testudo with cardboard shields. tree →
• The arrows bounced off the testudo. tree →
• Hermann's tortoise belongs to the genus Testudo. tree →

note

Said «tes-TOO-doh». Latin word. Plural: testudos (or the Latin testudines). The science name is written with a capital T and in italics: Testudo.

In the corpora

• In the testudo, or tortoise formation, soldiers locked their shields above and around them to protect against arrows.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «testudo» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.