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turtle

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turn turtle

Fig. to turn upside down. (See also turn belly up.) The sailboat turned turtle, but the sailors only got wet. The car ran off the road and turned turtle in the ditch.

See also: turn, turtle

turn turtle

if a boat turns turtle, it turns upside down in the water We lost all our diving gear when the boat turned turtle just off the shore.

See also: turn, turtle

turn turtle

Capsize, turn upside down, as in When they collided, the car turned turtle. This expression alludes to the helplessness of a turtle turned on its back, where its shell can no longer protect it. [First half of 1800s]

See also: turn, turtle

turn turtle

in. to turn over, as with a ship. The old dog finally turned turtle, and that was the end.

See also: turn, turtle

turtle heading

n. popping up and down in an office cubicle, looking at what’s going on in the rest of the office. (see also prairie dog.) Everybody was turtle heading, trying to see what was happening in Willy’s cubicle.

See also: heading, turtle

turtle-neck

n. the penile foreskin. (A play on the type of collar.) He’s talking to the doctor about getting rid of his little turtle-neck.