tortoise-shell

A form of tortoiseshell — The horny, translucent, mottled covering of the carapace of the hawksbill turtle, used as a veneer etc.

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Meanings

nountortoise-shell (usually uncountable, plural tortoise-shells)

plural tortoise-shells

  1. alternativeuncountableusuallyAlternative form of tortoiseshell.
adjectivetortoise-shell (not comparable)
  1. alternativenot comparableAlternative form of tortoiseshell.

    The same nervous staccato laugh broke from her thin lips, and her fingers began to play with a long tortoise-shell paper-knife.

    1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter IV, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC, page 67
Cite this entry
APA

tortoise-shell. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tortoise-shell

MLA

“tortoise-shell.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tortoise-shell. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tortoise-shell,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tortoise-shell.

Source: tortoise-shell on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.