Word.ws English Dictionary

turtle-dove

turtle-dove is the alternative spelling of turtle dove.

Meaning of turtle dove

Noun

turtle dove (plural turtle doves)

  1. Any of several (species of) birds, called by this traditional name, mainly in the genus Streptopelia, of the family Columbidae (doves and pigeons, which also included the extinct passenger pigeon, dodo, and solitaire).
  2. A lover, one half of a couple.
    • […] and then on a common impulse this curiously simple pair of habitual criminals were in each other's arms and exchanging fond kisses for all the world like honest lovers.
      "Hullo, turtle doves," remarked Nickle, stumbling in upon this idyll and accepting it with saving coolness.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London

Forms of turtle-dove

pluralturtle-doves

Questions about turtle-dove

What is turtle-dove the alternative spelling of?
Turtle-dove is the alternative spelling of turtle dove.

Words near turtle-dove in the dictionary

  1. turtle-backs
  2. turtle-corral
  3. turtle-crawl
  4. turtle-crawls
  5. turtle-deck
  6. turtle-dove
  7. turtle-doves
  8. turtle-egging
  9. turtle-footed
  10. turtle-head
  11. turtle-heading

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turtle-dove (page history and authors); turtle dove (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “turtle-dove.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/turtle-dove. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.