turkey

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.

noun

1. (countable, originally, now obsolete) The guinea fowl (family Numididae).
2. (countable) A bird in the genus Meleagris with a fan-shaped tail and wattled neck, especially the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo, now domesticated).
3. (uncountable) The flesh or meat of this bird eaten as food.
   All week after Thanksgiving, I had turkey sandwiches for lunch.
4. (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)).
5. (countable, bowling) An act of throwing three strikes in a row.
6. (countable, medicine, slang, derogatory) A patient feigning symptoms; a person faking illness or injury; a malingerer.
   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.] [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
7. (countable, Australia, US, slang, dated) A pack carried by a lumberman; a bindle; also, a large travel bag, a suitcase.
8. (countable, US, slang) A failure.
   That film was a turkey.
   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. April 7 2021, Christian Wolmar, “Electrification is a given... but comfort matters as well”, in RAIL, number 928, page 46
9. (countable, US, slang, usually mildly derogatory) A foolish or inept person.
   The turkey cut in front of me and then berated me for running into him.