What does "testudo" mean?

A shelter formed by a body of troops holding their shields or targets close together over their heads.

Testudo

Common synonyms include: shield wall, shielded formation, tortoise formation, tortoise genus, tortoise group, tortoiseshell.

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A shelter formed by a body of troops holding their shields or targets close together over their heads. Ancient-Rome, historical
2
a movable protective covering that provided protection from above; used by Roman troops when approaching the walls of a besieged fortification wordnet
3
A shelter of similar shape for miners, etc.
4
The fornix.
5
A chelys (kind of lyre)

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Unadapted borrowing from Latin testūdō (“tortoise, turtle, lyre, type of military shelter”).