turkey

cold turkey

Sl. immediately; without tapering off or cutting down gradually. (Originally drug slang. Now used of breaking any habit.) Tom stopped smoking cold turkey. She gave up her drinking habit cold turkey and had no ill effects.

See also: cold

dust bunny and a dust kitten; a turkey's nest

Kg. a clump of dust and lint. She swept the dust bunnies out from under the bed. There's a huge dust kitten behind the chiffarobe. He hasn't cleaned in weeks. There are turkey's nests in every corner.

See also: bunny, dust

go cold turkey

Inf. to stop (doing something) without tapering off. (Originally drug slang. Now concerned with breaking any habit.) I had to stop smoking, so I went cold turkey. It's awful! When heroin addicts go cold turkey, they get terribly sick.

See also: cold

talk turkey

Fig. to talk business; to talk frankly. Okay, Bob, we have business to discuss. Let's talk turkey. John wanted to talk turkey, but Jane just wanted to joke around.

See also: talk

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a turkey shoot  (mainly American)

if a fight or a war is a turkey shoot, one side is certain to be completely defeated because the other side is much stronger Their aircraft destroyed every military camp in a three-day turkey shoot.

See talk turkey

See also: shoot

cold turkey

the unpleasant physical and mental effects someone suffers when they suddenly stop taking drugs The addict himself must make the decision that he wants to go cold turkey. The nurses are there to encourage patients through cold turkey.

See also: cold

like turkeys voting for (an early) Christmas  (British & Australian humorous)

if people are like turkeys voting for Christmas, they choose to accept a situation which will have very bad results for them

Usage notes: Turkeys are large birds which are often eaten on Christmas Day.

Teachers agreeing to even larger class sizes would be like turkeys voting for Christmas.

See also: Christmas, like, vote

talk turkey  (mainly American)

to discuss a problem in a serious way with a real intention to solve it If the two sides in the dispute are to meet, they must be prepared to talk turkey.

See also: talk

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go cold turkey

to suddenly and completely stop doing something, esp. a bad habit Finally she went cold turkey on a 23-year smoking habit and hasn't smoked since.

Usage notes: also used in the form quit cold turkey with the same meaning: The big organizations suddenly quit cold turkey, leaving the work to volunteers.

See also: cold

talk turkey

to discuss a problem seriously with the intention of solving it The session was businesslike, and according to one official, “They talked turkey.”

See also: talk