turn turtle
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
It hurtled on, shedding wheels and bodywork as it almost turned turtle.
The priest turned turtle and dipped in the water.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “turn turtle” mean?
to capsize or turn upside down Literally: turn turtle
Is “turn turtle” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.