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Glite Dictionary
turkey cock

turkey cock

9.9
A male turkey with large colorful tail feathers
  • noun
  • /ˈtɜrki kɑk/
  • US
translation icon : pavo macho
  • The turkey cock displayed its colorful feathers during the spring mating season.

Examples

  • "Whatever do we be doing there all trussed up like a turkey cock?

    Sleuth (1972)

  • Those first few days, when he broke consciousness enough to do it, he wiped at his neck with the rag until the water in the basin was the color of the comb on a turkey cock.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • At the farm, the turkey cock strutted proudly in front of the female turkeys.

  • We were amazed to see the turkey cock puffing up his chest to attract a mate.

Synonyms

gobbler
vsturkey cock
  • US
7 9.9

A male turkey often with bright feathers

is a neutral or formal term rather than the colloquial name
tom
vsturkey cock
6 9.9

A male turkey with bright feathers that he shows to attract hens

is a fuller phrase rather than the short informal name
tom turkey
vsturkey cock
1 9.9

A male turkey

is an alternative name with different wording and tone

Surface Forms

turkey cock singular
turkey cocks plural

Morphology

turkey + cock

This meaning is directly compositional: combining 'turkey' (the bird) with 'cock' (an adult male bird) yields 'male turkey'. The noun+noun pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reliably infer the meaning.

Etymology

Turkey cock joins turkey and cock, because cock has long meant a male bird, like a rooster. The image is of a proud male turkey walking and showing his feathers, so the phrase simply means 'a male turkey'.