# turkey
## English
### Alternative forms

* turkie (obsolete)

### Etymology

Clipping of turkey-cock and turkey-hen (“(originally) the guinea fowl (family Numididae)”), which was imported to Europe by Turkey merchants through Turkey. The word was then applied to the larger northern American bird Meleagris gallopavo which was brought to Spain by conquistadors in 1523. This transfer of the name may have occurred because the two birds were considered similar to each other, or because the North American turkey was in part introduced through Ottoman territories, or simply to indicate that it was foreign.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈtɜːki/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈtɝki/
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Homophone: Turkey
* Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ki
* Hyphenation: turk‧ey

### Noun

turkey (plural turkeys or (obsolete) turkies)
* (countable, originally, now obsolete) The guinea fowl (family Numididae). [from c. 1600]
* (countable) A bird in the genus Meleagris with a fan-shaped tail and wattled neck, especially the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo, now domesticated).
** 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 157:It was a Turkey! He never could have stood upon his legs, that bird. He would have snapped 'em short off in a minute, like sticks of sealing-wax.
* (uncountable) The flesh or meat of this bird eaten as food.
    All week after Thanksgiving, I had turkey sandwiches for lunch.
* (countable) With a distinguishing word: a bird resembling the Meleagris gallopavo (for example, the brush turkey or bush turkey (Alectura lathami), and the water turkey (Anhinga anhinga)).
* (countable, bowling) An act of throwing three strikes in a row.
* (countable, medicine, slang, derogatory) A patient feigning symptoms; a person faking illness or injury; a malingerer.
** [1976, Stephen Charles Frankel, Emergency Medical Care in an Urban Area (Ph.D. dissertation in Anthropology), Berkeley, Calif.: University of California, Berkeley, →OCLC, page 118:Mumford (1970) noted that the terms ‘crock’, ‘gomer’, and ‘turkey’, were sometimes utilized by interns to designate different types of undesirable patients, and sometimes used synonymously.]
* (countable, Australia, US, slang, dated) A pack carried by a lumberman; a bindle; also, a large travel bag, a suitcase. [from early 20th c.]
* (countable, US, slang) A failure.
    Synonym: flop
    That film was a turkey.
** 1981 August 8, Rob Schmieder, “Starring Bowie and Berlin”, in Gay Community News, page 11:And despite the gross incompetence of Hemmings' direction, the ludicrous script, and the heavy-handed acting, there remains a stellar reason to see and enjoy Just a Gigolo: David Bowie. David Bowie is a great actor, and not even this turkey can obscure that fact.
** 2021 April 7, Christian Wolmar, “Electrification is a given... but comfort matters as well”, in RAIL, number 928, page 46:There were a few turkeys. In the rush to present a futuristic vision, the railways' heritage was largely forgotten and we ended up with new stations at Euston and at Coventry, its brash sidekick which I particularly loathe, although (of course) it won design awards.
* (countable, US, slang, usually mildly derogatory) A foolish or inept person.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:idiot
    The turkey cut in front of me and then berated me for running into him.
* (African-American Vernacular, Baltimore, slang, derogatory) A prostitute. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
    Synonyms: ho, hoe

#### Hyponyms

* (male): turkey-cock
* (female): turkey-hen
* Californian turkey
* ocellated turkey
* wild turkey

#### Derived terms

* Albuquerque turkey
* Australian brushturkey (Alectura lathami)
* Australian turkey
* brush-turkey
* brush turkey (Alectura lathami)
* bush turkey (Alectura lathami or Ardeotis australis)
* Californian turkey (Meleagris californica)
* Cape Cod turkey
* churkey
* cold turkey
* go full turkey
* hand turkey
* jive turkey
* like turkeys voting for Christmas, like turkeys voting for an early Christmas
* ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata)
* plains turkey (Ardeotis australis)
* poor as Job's turkey
* scrub turkey (Alectura lathami)
* stuffed like a turkey
* talk turkey
* Taunton turkey
* turducken
* turken
* turkey bacon
* turkey berry
* turkey bowl
* turkey bowling
* turkey bush
* turkey buzzard
* turkey-chick
* turkey-cock
* turkey cock
* turkey coma
* turkey corn
* Turkey Day
* turkey drop
* turkey dropping
* turkey frill
* turkey gobbler
* turkey ham
* turkey hen
* turkey-hen
* turkey-like
* turkeyling
* turkey mullein
* turkey oak
* turkey pout
* turkey-shoot
* turkey shoot
* turkey slap
* turkey tail
* turkey tick
* turkey tones
* turkey-trot
* turkey trot
* turkey vulture
* turkey X disease
* walk turkey
* water turkey (Anhinga anhinga)
* wattle turkey

#### See also

* gobble (“to make the sound of a turkey”)

### References

* ↑ “turkey, n.$^2$”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1915; “turkey$^1$, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

### Further reading

* domestic turkey on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* turkey (bird) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* turkey as food on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* turkey (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* Meleagris gallopavo on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
* Meleagris ocellata on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
* “turkey”, in Collins English Dictionary.