shield-toad

English

Alternative forms

• shieldtoad, shield toad, shelt-toad

Etymology

From shield +‎ toad. Compare shelled-toad, shell-toad, shellpad, shell-paddock. Compare also West Frisian skyldpod (“tortoise”, literally “shield-toad”), Dutch schildpad (“tortoise”, literally “shield-toad”), German Schildkröte (“tortoise”, literally “shield-toad”), Swedish sköldpadda (“tortoise”), Icelandic sjaldbaka (“turtle”, literally “shield-back”).

Noun

shield-toad (plural shield-toads)

1. (very rare, nonstandard, puristic) A turtle or tortoise.
   • 2010, Hugh Peter McGrath, Michael Comenetz, Valery's Graveyard:

     But we already know that a shield-toad is a Frenchman, while the sun is Apollo's shield.

   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:shield-toad.