leatherback Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun wide-ranging marine turtle with flexible leathery carapace; largest living turtle
    Dermochelys coriacea; leatherback turtle; leathery turtle.

WordNet

Leath"er*back` noun
Definitions
  1. (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 also leather turtle, leathery turtle, leather-backed tortoise, etc.

Webster 1913