Definition of "tardigrade"

Each tendril ending in a perfect claw, / Obeys the whole routine of Nature's law; / Transforms each sinus to a sylvan shade, / Though p'rhaps its force is rather tardigrade.

1850, Joses Badcock, “Botany; or, Phytology”, in Poems, volume 1, page 67

He ran on into the piazza, but he quickly heard the tramp of feet behind him, for the other two prisoners had been released, and the soldiers were struggling and fighting their way after them, in such tardigrade fashion as their hoof-shaped shoes would allow—impeded, but not very resolutely attacked, by the people.

1863, George Eliot, Romola

In sorrow, its voice is tardigrade but loud, dragging time at a snail's pace before our eyes.

2001, Richard S. Conde, “The Metronome”, in Century One, page 92