| Comment | NOAD:
terrapin - 1: (also 'diamondback terrapin') a small edible turtle with lozenge-shaped markings on its shell, found in coastal marshes of the eastern US.
· Malaclemys terrapin, family Emydidae.
2: a freshwater turtle, esp. one of the smaller kinds of the Old World. Also called TURTLE.
Random House unabridged:
terrapin - 1. any of several edible North American turtles of the family Emydidae, found in fresh or brackish waters, esp. the diamondback terrapin. 2. any of various similar turtles.
Webster's 3rd unabridged:
terrapin - 1a: any of various edible No. American turtles of the family Testudinidae living in fresh or brackish water; esp: DIAMONDBACK TERRAPIN see RED-BELLIED TERRAPIN, YELLOW-BELLIED TERRAPIN b: any of various other esp. freshwater turtles 2: a moderate brown that is redder, lighter, and stronger than coffee, lighter, stronger, and slightly redder than chestnut brown, and yellower, lighter, and stronger than auburn called also 'feuille' 3: (usu cap): a Marylander used as a nickname
diamondback terrapin - any of several terrapins constituting a genus Malaclemys and formerly widely distributed in salt marshes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Buzzards Bay southwards but no exterminated from much of the northern part of their range
red-bellied terrapin /or/ red-bellied turtle - a terrapin (Pseudemys rubriventris) of the tributaries of Chesapeake Bay having more or less red on the plastron and carapace and reaching a length of about 18 inches called also 'redbelly,' 'red fender'
yellow-bellied terrapin - a terrapin (Pseudemys scripta) of the southeastern U.S. having the carapace marked with yellow lines and the plastron yellow or brownish
Pons-Collins:
terrapin - Sumpfschildkröte
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All that was to show willing, as they say somewhere in BE, but basically I agree with Amy that the word isn't often used in everyday English, and I wouldn't know exactly how one defines a terrapin. A college sports team, apparently from Maryland, are the Terrapins, and those jumbo Darwinian things from the Galapagos Islands are definitely tortoises, but all the rest are, when in doubt, just turtles to me.
So as far as non-zoological terminology goes, the key part of the dictionary definitions would appear to be 'Also called TURTLE,' 'and various other turtles,' etc. (-;
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