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Feb 7, 2024
This week’s theme
Words derived from food

This week’s words
tzimmes
gravy train
cold turkey
nothingburger
plain-vanilla

cold turkey
Cold Turkey
by Corey Rosen Schwartz, et al
Cover image: Amazon

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

cold turkey

PRONUNCIATION:
(KOLD TUHR-kee)

MEANING:
noun:1. An abrupt and complete withdrawal, especially from an addiction.
 2. A frank and direct expression of views.
adjective:Abrupt and complete.
adverb:Abruptly.
verb tr., intr.:To abruptly and completely withdraw, especially from something addictive.

ETYMOLOGY:
Apparently from the serving of cold roast turkey which requires no preparation. Earliest documented use: 1921.

USAGE:
“When [Paul Denino] turned sixteen, he quit them all cold turkey. These days, he often talks about the drugs as a mental prison.”
Adrian Chen; No More Secrets; The New Yorker; Jul 9-16, 2018.

See more usage examples of cold turkey in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face. Don't trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance, any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it. -Charles Dickens, novelist (7 Feb 1812-1870)

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