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cold turkey

noun

Etymology

Various explanations; see Cold turkey § Etymology on Wikipedia.

Definitions

  1. A sudden and complete withdrawal from a dependent substance, especially a drug.

  2. The physiological effects of such a withdrawal.

  3. Something exposed as a target due to surmountable defense.

  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. Not gradually

      Not gradually; all at once; referring especially to quitting a habit by force of will rather than by a gradual reduction.

      • It is difficult, but possible to quit smoking cold turkey.
      • I knew that, if I had daily access to video games, I would spend literally every day playing them, forever. So I cut myself off, more or less cold turkey, and as a result I was more or less happy and productive.
      • Joan Baez:: ‘I talk to trees to get answers. They give it to you cold turkey’.

    2. To undergo sudden and complete withdrawal from a dependent substance, especially a drug.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for cold turkey. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA