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Definition of turkey noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

turkey

noun
 
/ˈtɜːki/
 
/ˈtɜːrki/
(plural turkeys)
Idioms
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  1. [countable] a large bird that is often kept for its meat, eaten especially at Christmas in the UK and at Thanksgiving in the US
    • We raise turkeys mainly for the Christmas market.
    Topics Foodb1, Birdsb1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • lean
    • Christmas
    • Thanksgiving
    • …
    verb + turkey
    • breed
    • raise
    • serve
    • …
    turkey + verb
    • gobble
    turkey + noun
    • farm
    • breast
    • leg
    • …
    See full entry
  2. [uncountable] meat from a turkey
    • roast turkey
    • the traditional turkey with all the trimmings
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • lean
    • Christmas
    • Thanksgiving
    • …
    verb + turkey
    • breed
    • raise
    • serve
    • …
    turkey + verb
    • gobble
    turkey + noun
    • farm
    • breast
    • leg
    • …
    See full entry
  3. [countable] (North American English, informal) a failure
    • His latest movie is a real turkey.
    Topics Difficulty and failurec2
  4. [countable] (North American English, informal) a stupid person who is not useful to anyone
    5. see also cold turkey
    Word Originmid 16th cent.: short for turkeycock or turkeyhen, originally applied to the guineafowl (which was imported through Turkey), and then mistakenly to the American bird.
Idioms
talk turkey
  1. (informal, especially North American English) to talk about something seriously
See turkey in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
Check pronunciation: turkey

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