Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A very large sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) of tropical and subtropical waters worldwide, having a tough, leathery carapace with seven longitudinal ridges.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A turtle of the family Dermochelydidæ, the Dermochelys coriaceus, or softshelled turtle, also known as leather-turtle, lyreturtle, trunk-turtle, and by other names. See
Sphargis . - noun The ruddy duck, Erismatura rubida: so called from the red back of the male, which is of the color of tanned sole-leather.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A large sea turtle (
Sphargis coriacea ), having no bony shell on its back. It is common in the warm and temperate parts of the Atlantic, and sometimes weighs over a thousand pounds; -- called alsoleather turtle ,leathery turtle ,leather-backed tortoise , etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A large sea
turtle ,Dermochelys coriacea , with a leathery back.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun wide-ranging marine turtle with flexible leathery carapace; largest living turtle
Etymologies
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Examples
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The leatherback is the world's biggest turtle and listed as Critically Endangered, largely because of poaching for eggs and snaring in fishing gear.
BBC News - Home 2011
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The leatherback is the world's largest species of turtle - they can live for up to 80 years and reach 2.4 metres in length.
Telegraph.co.uk: news, business, sport, the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sunday Telegraph 2009
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Among the deaths was a young leatherback, which is extremely rare to the area and one of the most endangered of all sea turtles.
PNJ - News 2009
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• The leatherback is the largest sea turtle, reaching up to nearly two metres (6.5 feet) in length and 540kg (1190 pounds) in weight.
PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2009
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The leatherback is the world's largest species of turtle - they can live for up to 80 years and reach 2.4 metres in length.
Telegraph.co.uk: news, business, sport, the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sunday Telegraph 2009
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The leatherback is the world's largest species of turtle -- they can live for up to 80 years and reach 2.4 meters in length.
unknown title 2009
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We're doing in leatherback turtles, which have managed to survive on this earth for 100 million years, thanks to overfishing they're often killed as bycatch, and their habitat is endangered by rising sea levels and temperatures.
Tara Lohan: Why You Should Really Be Concerned About the Global Wildlife Die-offs Tara Lohan 2011
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We can use it to encourage research and breeding of leatherback turtles, which, being the primary predator of jellyfish, have a big impact in the control of their numbers.
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If you watch leatherback hatchlings begin their journey to the sea as actress Kate Walsh did in the Virgin Islands a few years ago for Oceana, you can see that leatherbacks already face very long odds to reach adulthood, even without additional threats from humans.
Ted Danson: A Safe Haven for Leatherbacks Ted Danson 2012
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For starters, the World Wide Fund for Nature also known in the U.S. as the World Wildlife Fund just released its top 10 list of endangered species: the tiger, polar bear, Pacific walrus, Magellanic penguin, leatherback turtle, Atlantic bluefin tuna, mountain gorilla, monarch butterfly, Javan rhino and the giant panda are the unlucky finalists.
Tara Lohan: Why You Should Really Be Concerned About the Global Wildlife Die-offs Tara Lohan 2011
yarb commented on the word leatherback
A kind of turtle, I think.
September 26, 2007
seanahan commented on the word leatherback
Or a description of your mother!
I feel dirty.
September 27, 2007