Turtle vs. Snake — What's the Difference?

Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , also known as Chelonia . They are characterized by a bony or cartilaginous shell, developed from their ribs, that acts as a shield.

Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales.

Any of various aquatic or terrestrial egg-laying reptiles of the order Testudines (or Chelonia), having horny toothless jaws and a bony or leathery shell into which the head, limbs, and tail can be withdrawn in most species.

See Shoshone.

Any of various members of this order that live in fresh or brackish water, in contrast to the terrestrial tortoises.

See Hydra.

Chiefly British A sea turtle.

Any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous squamate reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (or Ophidia), having a long, tapering, cylindrical body and flexible jaws.

The flesh of certain turtles, used for food.

A treacherous person. Also called snake in the grass.

A turtledove.

A long, highly flexible metal wire or coil used for cleaning drains. Also called plumber's snake.

A turtleneck.

To drag or pull lengthwise, especially to drag with a rope or chain.

To hunt for turtles, especially as an occupation.

To pull with quick jerks.

(Nautical) To capsize.

To move in a sinuous or gliding manner

Any land or marine reptile of the order Testudines, characterised by a protective shell enclosing its body. See also tortoise.

To move with a sinuous motion

A marine reptile of that order.

A legless reptile of the suborder Serpentes with a long, thin body and a fork-shaped tongue.

An Ancient Roman attack method, where the shields held by the soldiers hide them, not only left, right, front and back, but also from above.

A treacherous person; a rat.

(computing) A type of robot having a domed case (and so resembling the reptile), used in education, especially for making line drawings by means of a computer program.

Somebody who acts deceitfully for social gain.

(computing) An on-screen cursor that serves the same function as a turtle for drawing.

A tool for unclogging plumbing.

The curved plate in which the form is held in a type-revolving cylinder press.

A tool to aid cable pulling.

(comptheory) A small element towards the end of a list of items to be bubble sorted, and thus tending to take a long time to be swapped into its correct position. Compare rabbit.

(Australia) A flavoured jube (confectionary) in the shape of a snake.

(dance) A breakdancing move consisting of a float during which the dancer's weight shifts from one hand to the other, producing rotation or a circular "walk".

(slang) Trouser snake; the penis.

(television) A low stand for a lamp etc.

(maths) A series of Bézier curves.

A turtle dove.

(cartomancy) The seventh Lenormand card.

(intransitive) To flip over onto the back or top; to turn upside down.

An informer; a rat.

(intransitive) To move along slowly.

(intransitive) To follow or move in a winding route.

(intransitive) To turn and swim upside down.

To steal slyly.

(intransitive) To hunt turtles, especially in the water.

(transitive) To clean using a plumbing snake.

To build up a large defense force and strike only occasionally, rather than going for an offensive strategy.

To drag or draw, as a snake from a hole; often with out.

The turtledove.

(nautical) To wind round spirally, as a large rope with a smaller, or with cord, the small rope lying in the spaces between the strands of the large one; to worm.

Any one of the numerous species of Testudinata, especially a sea turtle, or chelonian.

(MLE) To inform; to rat.

The curved plate in which the form is held in a type-revolving cylinder press.

Any species of the order Ophidia; an ophidian; a serpent, whether harmless or venomous. See Ophidia, and Serpent.

Any of various aquatic and land reptiles having a bony shell and flipper-like limbs for swimming

To drag or draw, as a snake from a hole; - often with out.

Overturn accidentally;

To wind round spirally, as a large rope with a smaller, or with cord, the small rope lying in the spaces between the strands of the large one; to worm.

Hunt for turtles, especially as an occupation

To crawl like a snake.

Limbless scaly elongate reptile; some are venomous

A deceitful or treacherous person

A tributary of the Columbia River that rises in Wyoming and flows westward; discovered in 1805 by the Lewis and Clark Expedition

A long faint constellation in the southern hemisphere near the equator stretching between Virgo and Cancer

Something resembling a snake

Move smoothly and sinuously, like a snake

Form a snake-like pattern;

Move along a winding path;