A large, fairly stupid bird, native to the Americas, but domesticated throughout most of the world. It makes good eatin' and is commonly devoured in large numbers during the American celebration of Thanksgiving. They are said to be so dumb that they must be taught how to eat as chicks and sometimes drown because they stare at the sky with their mouths open when it rains.

Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to his daughter, said he wanted to make it the national symbol of the United States. He said it was a "more respectable bird" than the bald eagle and was "a true original native of North America." He added, "He is besides, though a little vain and silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on." I like Franklin a lot, but I think he mighta been playing a bit too much in his pal George Washington's hemp crop...

Country bordering Greece and Bulgaria on its European side, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Syria on its Asian side. The two sections are separated by the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, with the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean Sea to the south of the country. Prone to earthquakes in the northern portion of the Asian half, and had a big one somewhat recently. It's been in its current form since 1923; it is considered the successor to the Ottoman empire (which, however, covered a much bigger area). It has claimed part of the island of Cyprus.

"Turkey" can also be used to describe an utterly horrible movie. Example usage: "Battlefield Earth was a turkey."

Turkey, is the English-speaking name of the country Turkiye. Turkiye is known to have one of the largest cities in the world, Istanbul, as well as having many summer resorts on its southern coast.

The capital of Turkiye is Ankara.

The common language in Turkiye is Turkish. Turkish draws its roots from nowhere but itself. Before the 1950s(roughly) the Turkish language still used Arabic characters, but the first president of Turkey, Ataturk, changed the alphabet to Roman. The Turkish alphabet contains 29 letters, and each letter has a singular pronounciation unlike English. (More Information on Turkish Alphabet and Language)

The flag of Turkey is a centered white crescent moon with a star inside the crescent, upon a red background. The flag is said to originate due to the aftermath of a battle leaving blood-filled water, in which the crescent moon and star reflected upon.

Turkiye is brought up on mainly Islamic ideals, with a large percentage of Jews as well, but does not hold religous laws to country laws. In other words women are equal in Turkiye, unlike in some of Turkiye's neighbors.

Most Turks, the name for citizens of Turkiye, claim creation of baklava, lokum(Turkish Delight), and doner, known in the states as gyros.

During the time of the Spanish Inquisition, many Jews were forced out of their homes in European lands. However, Turkiye welcomed them into their country.

If one should visit the country of Turkiye, and one finds the want to buy an old Ottoman Empire fez at some store. One tip: DO NOT WEAR THE FEZ IN PUBLIC. The fez is considered a symbol of the Ottoman empire, and has been deemed illegal to wear. Wearing a fez indicates that you wish to return Turkiye to its empire state.
Also, this is a Bowling term, which means three strikes in a row. I get one of these, and then I throw nothing but gutter balls the rest of the game.

On the automagic scoring system at the local bowling alley, a turkey comes on the screen.

I'm unsure if this was created so that people wouldn't see XXX when someone does this hat trick of bowling.

Turkey is term that may be used when one gets three birdies in a row while playing frisbee golf. It has a direct realtion to the meaning of turkey as it applies to bowling.

Corrections on Webster 1913 definition which has some factual and historical mistakes:

First of all, in 1913 there was no such thing as Turkey or Turkish Empire. The land described was still called Ottoman Empire by the historians. The name Turkey wasn't officially given to the remainders of this empire, until after Turkish War of Independence that was after World War I.

On May 23, 1920, when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk declared the foundation of Turkish Republic by calling up the first Turkish assemby the name was officially used for the first time.

Further corrections:

If used as an adjective, the correct term is Turkish, not Turkey. eg: Turkish Carpet, Turkish Stone, Turkish Red, etc.

When the New World was discovered by Europeans, many of the foodstuffs from the Americas were imported to a Europe hungry for novelties. However, for some strange reason, nobody (at first) knew the origin of the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo).

As a consequence of this state of confusion, most European languages have a completely unique name for the turkey, reflecting the supposed origin of this useful new domesticated fowl:

The English, as may be inferred from the name, thought that the new species came from Asia Minor, specifically Turkey. This is an excusable error, since many new species of plant and animal (most notably tulips) were in the process of being introduced to Europe from that region.

The French, apparently, believed the origin to be somewhat further afield, but still from a region known for producing new delicacies: they named the new species dinde, derived from the French phrase meaning "from India".

Speakers of my native language, Danish, accepted the French view, and dubbed the critter a kalkun (derived from the name of the Indian city of Calicut).

Why didn't anybody realise the true origin? Well, one explanation may be that the turkey is mostly native to North America (barring a single subspecies in Central America), and European colonisation of that continent was a fairly late thing, compared to contact with Asia, and colonisation of South and Central America and the Caribbean islands. Possibly the people of Europe had simply had more time to familiarise themselves with exotic foodstuffs from the East, and were more used to new delicacies from that corner of the world.

Whatever the reason, the word for turkey is one of the most confusing and unique differences between the major European languages.

A country where people, some most subjectively claim, worship power and adore the powerful. It is also the home country of the author of this write-up.

Having lived on the Anatolian soil, a land raided by scores of armies in countless battles for hundres of years, the people of Anatolia have learned that one of the best ways to survive, also the most commercially feasible, is to be on the side of the winner at all times. They figured, it is much better than being in power yourself. Ottoman janissaries brought down tens of Sultans, but always to replace them with the brother, cousin, uncle or some other relative of the Sultan that was toppled and never, not even once, thought of ruling the country themselves as any decent, normal junta would have done in any other part of the world.

One other explanation for power worship in Turkey is the concept of kut, or the authority to rule, as understood in pre-Islamic Turks. In Turkic shamanism, the authority to rule was believed to have been granted by the Gök Tengri (the God of Skies, the deity responsible for stately matters), and it was passed through blood. Thus, even after accepting Islam, the people of the land here did not even think about challenging the divine right to rule of the bloodline of a single dynasty; something they have been indoctrinated with by their shamanistic values over centuries. This also explains why the Ottoman Dynasty was able to rule its Empire uninterruptedly for more than 600 years, whereas power changed from one ruling royal family to another one on European soil every century or two.

That mighty tradition however, was broken by a group of pragmatic officers – heavily influenced by everything French including the 1789 revolution and the Enlightenment – who overthrew a Sultan in 1876 and rolled their sleeves to set up the first parliament of the country. The parliament was disbanded sometime later, but the same group of officers, this time organized in a political party-like formation known as the Committee of Progress and Union, did their coup d’état thing one more time in 1908 and this time kept their grip on power to declare the establishment of the republic in 1923. In fact, the reign of their mentality remains in power well into the late 2008s, that is to our day, but it is being contested and seriously shaken by the Islamist Justice and Development Party.

However, beyond the secularist and the newly emerging Islamist elite, the people have not given up that thousand-year old Anatolian tradition of siding with the stronger. This is why when a power struggle starts – be it between Kurdish nationalists and the state, or secularists or Islamists or anything else – it never ends in the country in question. For we have to play it safe until we’re sure which side is going to win, and this is why no side can ever garner enough weight and power to defeat the other side.

Nowhere else can this passion for keeping close to the powerful be observed so clearly as in the first division of the national soccer league, which boasts some 18 teams. Turks, all across the country, regardless of their social or economic status, religious convictions, educational background, ethnicity or any other attribute support only three of the wealthy and strong Istanbul teams, namely, Galatasaray (the Lions), Fenerbahçe (the Canaries) and Besiktas (the Black Eagles). In the nearly five decade history of today’s soccer league, championship has always rotated among these three teams with the glorious exception of Trabzonspor winning the title six times, the last time in 1984. Not surprisingly, the fourth most popular team in Turkey is Trabzonspor from the Black Sea port city of Trabzon, the only city in Turkey where almost all of the population supports their local team. Trabzonspor’s fan base spreads across the Black Sea region, making it the only team in Turkey where feelings of solidarity with one’s fellow townspeople count as a factor in becoming a fan of a soccer team.

A classic example of the Anatolian infatuation with power is Yasar Kemal's 1955 novel Memed My, Hawk, which according to many domestic observers truly captures and conveys the spirit of the Anatolian people. The story is about a young man from a village in the southern Çukurova region who joins a group of bandits in his quest to challenge the feudal lord -- aga in Turkish – who owns the land of the village and the people of it. In addition to being an all-powerful and undemocratic lord, this aga is relentless in making the poor farmers’ work day and night on his land but at the same time greatly unwilling to share the yields with them. A war between Memed – supported by his fellow bandits who are all in this thing for different reasons -- and the unjust villain of an "aga" is the main theme of the book. The villagers first support Memed, and then the aga, and then Memed again and they keep changing sides and the plot keeps twisting this way and that way throughout the book because the peasants cannot make out who the ultimate winner is going to be in this war.

Tur"key (?), n. [Cf. 2d Turkey.]

An empire in the southeast of Europe and southwest of Asia.

Turkey carpet, a superior kind of carpet made in Asia Minor and adjoining countries, having a deep pile and composed of pure wool with a weft of different material. It is distinguishable by its coloring and patterns from similar carpets made in India and elsewhere. --
Turkey oak. (Bot.) See Cerris. --
Turkey red.
(a) A brilliant red imparted by madder to cottons, calicoes, etc., the fiber of which has been prepared previously with oil or other fatty matter.
(b) Cloth dyed with this red. --
Turkey sponge. (Zoöl.) See Toilet sponge, under Sponge. --
Turkey stone, a kind of oilstone from Turkey; novaculite; -- called also Turkey oilstone.

 

© Webster 1913


Tur"key (?), n.; pl. Turkeys (#). [So called because it was formerly erroneously believed that it came originally from Turkey: cf. F. Turquie Turkey. See Turk.] (Zoöl.)

Any large American gallinaceous bird belonging to the genus Meleagris, especially the North American wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), and the domestic turkey, which was probably derived from the Mexican wild turkey, but had been domesticated by the Indians long before the discovery of America.

⇒ The Mexican wild turkey is now considered a variety of the northern species (var. Mexicana). Its tall feathers and coverts are tipped with white instead of brownish chestnut, and its flesh is white. The Central American, or ocellated, turkey (M. ocellata) is more elegantly colored than the common species. See under Ocellated. The Australian, or native, turkey is a bustard (Choriotis australis). See under Native.

Turkey beard (Bot.), a name of certain American perennial liliaceous herbs of the genus Xerophyllum. They have a dense tuft of hard, narrowly linear radical leaves, and a long raceme of small whitish flowers. Also called turkey's beard. --
Turkey berry (Bot.), a West Indian name for the fruit of certain kinds of nightshade (Solanum mammosum, and S. torvum). --
Turkey bird (Zoöl.), the wryneck. So called because it erects and ruffles the feathers of its neck when disturbed. [Prov. Eng.] --
Turkey buzzard (Zoöl.), a black or nearly black buzzard (Cathartes aura), abundant in the Southern United States. It is so called because its naked and warty head and neck resemble those of a turkey. Its is noted for its high and graceful flight. Called also turkey vulture. --
Turkey cock (Zoöl.), a male turkey. --
Turkey hen (Zoöl.), a female turkey. --
Turkey pout (Zoöl.), a young turkey. [R.] --
Turkey vulture (Zoöl.), the turkey buzzard.

 

© Webster 1913

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