Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
TURKEY, n., v. Also turkie. Sc. usages:
I. n. 1. A wallet or pocket-book, orig. as being made of Turkey-leather. Comb. Turkey-hide, id.Edb. 1821 W. Liddle Poems 27–30:
Your Turkey hide ye lin'd it costly, Ilk bag and hauld. Your turkey that was nabbed wi' what was in her.
2. From turkey, the bird, poss. in (1) with some connotation of Turk, a savage uncouth person: (1) a term of abuse (Sc. 1905 E.D.D.); (2) a small bottle of straw (Cai. 1905 E.D.D., Cai. 1920, turkie), phs. from its shape.
¶II. v. To absent oneself, to play truant.Sc. 1887 Life of Stevenson (Balfour 1922) 17:
On one occasion my father absented himself from the idle shows of the Exhibition day, and went off rambling to Portobello. . . . It was what in his picturesque personal dialect the old man called “Turkeying”.
