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Glite Dictionary
scrub turkey

scrub turkey

9.1
A wild turkey that lives in the bush and has tougher meat
  • noun
  • /skrʌb ˈtɜrki/
  • US
translation icon : pavo salvaje
  • The meat from a scrub turkey can be a bit tough compared to farm-raised birds.

Examples

  • I spotted a scrub turkey while hiking in the woods.

  • We roasted a scrub turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.

  • Hunters often encounter at least one scrub turkey during the fall season.

  • Many hunters prefer scrub turkeys for their unique flavor.

  • Many hunters consider the scrub turkey to have a stronger flavor than the typical farm-raised variety.

  • After a long day of hunting, we prepared the scrub turkey we caught in the wild.

  • The scrub turkey is often tougher to cook than domesticated turkeys due to its wild lifestyle.

Synonyms

game bird
vsscrub turkey
1 3.2

A bird like a pheasant that people hunt for food or sport

is wild and often tougher and less desirable for eating

Surface Forms

scrub turkey singular
scrub turkeys plural

Morphology

scrub + turkey

The sense 'a wild or less desirable turkey' can be directly inferred from combining 'scrub' (meaning relating to scrubland or of inferior/mixed quality) with 'turkey' (the bird): either a turkey from the scrub or an inferior/untamed turkey. This is a regular adjective+noun composition that follows common cross-linguistic patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would likely understand the MWE.

Etymology

Scrub turkey gets its name from the bird living in the scrub, low bushes away from farms, so it is a wild turkey. Because these birds often have tougher meat, the name came to mean a turkey that is 'wild' or 'not as good to eat'.