Dictionary

shield-toad en · NOUN

Etymology

From shield + toad. Compare 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”).

Meanings

1. (nonstandard, rare) A turtle or tortoise.
   • But we already know that a shield-toad is a Frenchman, while the sun is Apollo's shield. 2010, Hugh Peter McGrath, Michael Comenetz, Valery's Graveyard:
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:shield-toad.

Forms