cold turkey Definition

cold turkey
noun

drug-taking slang:
1. A way of curing drug addiction by suddenly and completely stopping the use of drugs.
2. The unpleasant withdrawal symptoms suffered by a drug addict using this method.

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turkey
noun turkeys

1. A large gamebird indigenous to woodland in N and Central America but now farmed in most parts of the world. It has dark plumage with a greenish sheen, a bald blue or red head with red wattles and the male has a fanlike tail.
2. The flesh of this bird used as food, particularly at Christmas and (in the USA) at Thanksgiving when it is usually roasted.
(N Amer)
3. colloq
A stupid or inept person.
(N Amer)
4. colloq
A play, film, etc that is a complete failure.

Derivative: cold turkey

See separate entry.

Idiom: talk turkey

To talk bluntly or frankly.

To talk business.

Etymology: 16c: originally applied to a guinea fowl imported from Turkey but later wrongly used to designate the American bird.