| 释义 |
testudo|tɛˈstjuːdəʊ|
Also 7 (in anglicized form) testude.
[a. L. testūdo tortoise, etc., f. testa a pot, shell, etc.: see test n.2]
1. Path. = Talpa 2: see quots.
c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 215 Testudines..ben engendrid of hard fleume. 1693tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Testudo, a soft, large Swelling, or not very hard, in the Head, broad, in form of an Arch or Tortoise. 1727–41Chambers Cycl., Testudo. 1857Dunglison Dict. Med. Sc., Testudo,..an encysted tumour, which has been supposed to resemble the shell of a turtle..Talpa.
2. Zool. The typical genus of the tortoise family, Testudinidæ; a member of this genus.
c1520L. Andrewe Noble Lyfe xcv, Testudo is a fysshe in a shelle & is in the se of Inde & his shelle is very great & like a muskle. 1706Phillips, Testudo,..the Tortoise, or Shell-crab. 1752J. Hill Hist. Anim. 112 The Testudo has four legs, and its body is covered with a firm shell.
3. Roman Antiq.
a. An engine of war used by besiegers, consisting of a screen or shelter, with a strong and usually fire-proof arched roof; it was wheeled up to the walls, which could then be attacked in safety. Also applied to similar contrivances in more recent times.
1609Holland Amm. Marcell. xxiii. iv. 222 There is a mightie Testudo or frame made, strengthened with very long pieces of timber. 1622Peacham Compl. Gent. ix. 73 All engines of warre..Sambukes, Catapultes, Testudo's, Scorpions. 1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 150 A Ram-engine..which, together with its testude, they setled on its wheels. 1644Lanc. Tracts (Chetham Soc.) 187 A kind of testudo, a wooden engine running on wheeles, rooft towards the house with thick planks.
b. A shelter formed by a body of troops locking their shields together above their heads.
a1680Butler Rem. (1759) II. 174 He will join as many Shields together as would make a Roman testudo. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Testudo,..a Target-Fence. 1801Ranken Hist. France I. 65 A testudo preceded the main body; and two detachments..were ready..to rush out on the enemy's wings. 1827Robinson Archæol. Græca iv. ix. (ed. 2) 372 The military testudo,..was when the soldiers were drawn up close to each other, and the rear ranks, bowing themselves, placed their targets above their heads.
c. transf. and fig. (See quots.)
1877Knight Dict. Mech., Testudo,..is now applied to objects..employed as defenses for miners, etc. when working in ground or rock which is liable to cave in. 1903Daily Chron. 30 Mar. 6/4 The stands were crowded, and a vast ‘testudo’ of gleaming umbrellas showed during those wild two hours how much the wretched dared.
4. Anc. Music. (See quots.)
1702Sir T. Molyneux in Phil. Trans. XXIII. 1270 Who..could compose such sweet Harmony upon the Guilded Lyre or Testudo. 1727–41Chambers Cycl., Testudo, in antiquity, was particularly used among the poets, &c. for the ancient lyre; by reason it was originally made, by its inventor Mercury of the..shell of a..sea tortoise. 1776Burney Hist. Mus. (1789) I. i. 294 It is disputed whether this lyre is the same as the cithara or testudo.
5. Comb., as testudo-shaped adj.
1875J. H. Pollen Anc. & Mod. Furn. 19 Occasionally they were covered in wholly with a testudo-shaped roof. |