turkey merchants
Preserved but no longer current.
Dealers in plundered or contraband silk. Poulterers are sometimes termed TURKEY MERCHANTS in remembrance of Horne Tooke’s answer to the boys at Eton, who wished in an aristocratic way to know what his father was: "A TURKEY MERCHANT," replied Tooke—his father was a poulterer. TURKEY MERCHANT, also, was formerly slang for a driver of turkeys or geese to market.
Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “turkey merchants” mean?
Dealers in plundered or contraband silk. Poulterers are sometimes termed TURKEY MERCHANTS in remembrance of Horne Tooke’s answer to the boys at Eton, who wished in an aristocratic way to know what his father was: "A TURKEY MERCHANT," replied Tooke—his father was a poulterer. TURKEY MERCHANT, also, was formerly slang for a driver of turkeys or geese to market.
Is “turkey merchants” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.