water turkey
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of water turkey
An Americanism dating back to 1830–40
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He painted woodpeckers, flycatchers, studied the chuck-will's-widow that moves its eggs if they are touched, the water turkey that walks on the bottom of streams, the rare scarlet ibis, the "overdressed" white ibis.
From Time Magazine Archive
A water turkey, though the boat was past, fell clumsily off its perch into the water and after frantic efforts flopped away.
From The Plunderer by Henry Oyen
If the chat is a clown, the water turkey would make its fortune as a contortionist.
From A Florida Sketch-Book by Bradford Torrey
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
