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• turkey trot
  turkey trot

  noun

  a round dance, danced by couples, properly to ragtime, the step being a springy walk with little or no bending of the knees, and accompanied by a swinging motion of the body with shoulder movements up and down.
• turkey-trot
  turkey-trot

  verb (used without object)

  to dance the turkey trot.

turkey trot

¹ American  

noun

1. a round dance, danced by couples, properly to ragtime, the step being a springy walk with little or no bending of the knees, and accompanied by a swinging motion of the body with shoulder movements up and down.

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turkey-trot ² American  

[tur-kee-trot] / ˈtɜr kiˌtrɒt /

verb (used without object)

turkey-trotted, turkey-trotting

1. to dance the turkey trot.

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turkey trot British  

noun

1. an early ragtime one-step, popular in the period of World War I

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Etymology

Origin of turkey trot

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40

Example Sentences

Mentally she was working up to a turkey trot in November with her husband and son, but her marathon dreams were over.

From New York Times • Sep. 19, 2022

And Kelli Foster Warder’s vivacious choreography is a lively pastiche of the cakewalk, the waltz, the turkey trot and other period dances.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 24, 2017

The cakewalk paved the way for a host of other dances, including the turkey trot, the possum trot, and the grizzly bear.

From BBC • Dec. 30, 2012

Once he enlisted the aid of Dancers Vernon & Irene Castle to help stamp out the pernicious tango, turkey trot, bunny hug, supplanting them with the more sedate polka, gavotte and schottische.

From Time Magazine Archive

Hurrying in, I saw they’d pushed all the parlor furniture back against the walls, Miss Love had put on a new dance record, and by golly she was teaching Grandpa the turkey trot!

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns