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Webster 1913 Edition


Turk

Turk

(tûrk)
,
Noun.
[Per.
Turk
; probably of Tartar origin: cf. F.
Turc
.]
1.
A member of any of numerous Tartar tribes of Central Asia, etc.; esp., one of the dominant race in Turkey.
2.
A native or inhabitant of Turkey.
3.
A Muslim; esp., one living in Turkey.
[Archaic]
It is no good reason for a man’s religion that he was born and brought up in it; for then a
Turk
would have as much reason to be a
Turk
as a Christian to be a Christian.
Chillingworth.
4.
(Zool.)
The plum weevil. See
Curculio
, and
Plum weevil
, under
Plum
.
Turk's cap
.
(Bot.)
(a)
Turk's-cap lily. See under
Lily
.
(b)
A tulip.
(c)
A plant of the genus
Melocactus
; Turk's head. See
Melon cactus
, under
Melon
.
Turk's head
.
(a)
(Naut.)
A knot of turbanlike form worked on a rope with a piece of small line.
R. H. Dana, Jr.
(b)
(Bot.)
See
Turk's cap
(c)
above.
Turk's turban
(Bot.)
,
a plant of the genus
Ranunculus
; crowfoot.

Definition 2024


Turk

Turk

See also: turk, Türk, and Turk.

English

Alternative forms

Noun

Turk (plural Turks)

  1. A person from Turkey.
  2. A speaker of the various Turkic languages.
  3. (obsolete) A Muslim.
    • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.12:
      Compare but our manners unto a Turke [transl. Mahometan], or a Pagan, and we must needs yeeld unto them [].
    • Chillingworth
      It is no good reason for a man's religion that he was born and brought up in it; for then a Turk would have as much reason to be a Turk as a Christian to be a Christian.
  4. (archaic) A bloodthirsty and savage person; vandal; barbarian.[1][from 16th c.]
    • 1579, John Lyly, Euphues, page 42:
      Was neuer any Impe so wicked and barbarous, any Turke so vyle and brutishe.
    • 1760, Tobias George Smollett (editor), The Critical Review: Or, Annals of Literature, Volume 9, page 20:
      A sort of primitive barbarity distinguishes the whole; no variety of character appears; and to call a man Turk is to say, that he is jealous, haughty, covetous, ignorant, and lascivious; at the same time that a certain dignity of gait, and magnificence of manners, gives him the appearance of generosity and true greatness of soul.
    • 1987, Anne Mozley, Essays from "Blackwood", page 21:
      A bad temper does seem often favourable to health. The man who has been a Turk all his life lives long to plague all about him.
    • 1906, George Meredith, One of our conquerors, page 292:
      As much as the wilfully or naturally blunted, the intelligently honest have to learn by touch: only, their understandings cannot meanwhile be so wholly obtuse as our society's matron, acting to please the tastes of the civilized man—a creature that is not clean-washed of the Turk in him—barbarously exacts.
    • 1928, Luṫfī Levonian, Moslem mentality: a discussion of the presentation of Christianity to Moslems, page 85:
      They regarded the very word Turk as synonymous with ignorance, impoliteness, and idiocy. To call a man 'Turk' was regarded as a great dishonour to him.
  5. (US, slang) A homosexual, assuming the active role in anal sex.
    • 1938, Aaron Joshua Rosanoff, Manual of psychiatry and mental hygiene, page 159:
      The clannishness of homosexuals has led to the development of special slang expressions among them: Temperamental or queer, a homosexual person. Turk, wolf, or jocker, an active sodomist.
    • 1993, Jonathon Green, Slang down the ages: the historical development of slang, page 231:
      [] turd-packer, hitchhiker on the Hershey highway (fr. the US Hershey chocolate bars), shirt-lifter (Australian), wind-jammer, fart-catcher, dirt tamper, pillow-biter and Turk (fr. the alleged national propensity for sodomy).
    • 2006, Deborah Cameron, On language and sexual politics, page 35:
      One of the many underworld synonyms for an active pederast is turk.
  6. A member of a Mestee group in South Carolina.

Translations

Derived terms

Anagrams

References

  1. J[ohn] A. Simpson and E[dward] S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN 978-0-19-861186-8.

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ʏrk

Noun

Turk m (plural Turken, diminutive Turkje n, feminine Turkse)

  1. a Turkish person, a Turk

Related terms

Anagrams

turk

turk

See also: Turk, Türk, and Turk.

Albanian

Noun

turk m (indefinite plural turq, definite singular turku, definite plural turqit)

  1. Turk

Related terms

  • Turqi
  • turqisht
  • turqishte

Swedish

Noun

turk c

  1. a Turk; person from Turkey

Declension

Inflection of turk 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative turk turken turkar turkarna
Genitive turks turkens turkars turkarnas

See also