Excepting its commendatory senses, tortoise has a derogatory sense. As one man running into difficulties, he resemble shrinking however head tortoise.

除了以上祥瑞之意，龟也有贬义，比如，表示一个人懦弱无能，遇到危险就退缩。

youdao

He also appointed Fred Malek, a prominent Washington fixer and fund-raiser, to head a study on shrinking state government.

ECONOMIST: Abortion in Virginia

Nowadays, it doesn't seem such a wise move to hang on to the head office, whose value may be shrinking year after year.

CNN: SELLING THE COMPANY CASTLE

Head teachers are not, by nature, shrinking violets and many will no doubt be up for any extra autonomy they can wring out of the system.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Education | Analysis: school reforms