[f. TURK1 + -ISH1; the usual adj. from Turk, Turkey, taking the place of the earlier TURKEYS from French.]
1. Of, pertaining or belonging to the Turks or to Turkey; now commonly = Ottoman.
1545. Ascham, Toxoph. (Arb.), 81. Surely no Turkyshe power can ouerthrowe vs, if Turkysshe lyfe do not cast vs downe before.
1546. P. Ashton, trans. Jovius (title), A shorte treatise vpon the Turkes Chronicles;… The begynnyng of the turkysshe empyre. The lyues of al the Turkyshe Emperours.
1552–3. Inv. Ch. Goods, Staffs., in Ann. Lichfield (1863), IV. 44. Itm: a cope of turkishe saten.
a. 1568. Ascham, Scholem., I. (Arb.), 61. This opinion is not French, but plaine Turckishe.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., I. xvii. 19 b. To weare armes against the Turkish nation. Ibid., III. ii. 71. To learne the turkish language.
1604. Shaks., Oth., I. iii. 8. Yet do they all confirme A Turkish Fleete, and bearing vp to Cyprus.
a. 1658. J. Durham, Exp. Rev. IX. ii. (1680), 385. The first Turkish Government being by four Souldans.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., V. § 18. Free-thinkers, who at present applaud Turkish maxims and manners.
1842. Prichard, Nat. Hist. Man, 209. The Turkish tribes have been often erroneously termed Tartars.
1870. Dickens, E. Drood, iii. ‘I want to go to the Lumps-of-Delight shop.’ ‘To the ——?’ ‘A Turkish sweetmeat, sir.’
1896. A. Mackay, Hist. Fife & Kinross, ii. 32. His Arab charger with his Turkish trappings was led to the high altar.
b. Like or resembling the Turks or their character; cruel, savage, barbarous.
1600. W. Watson, Decacordon (1602), 242. Turkish, Iesuitish, Puritanian, and barbarous designements. Ibid., 246. There is no mischiefe or villany, which they [Jesuits] will not attempt, to further their most sauage and Turkish designements.
1603. Dekker, Wonderfull Yeare, F iij b. They seeme by their turkish and barberous actions to belieue that there is no felicitie after this life.
1648. Ld. Ormond, in Milton, Observ. Art. Peace, Wks. (1847), 259/1. To constitute an elective kingdom … then … to establish a perfect Turkish tyranny.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Turkish Treatment, very sharp or ill dealing in Business.
2. In special collocations. a. Turkish bath: a hot bath introduced from the East and now extensively used, inducing copious perspiration, followed by soaping, washing, shampooing, massage and cooling. Also attrib.
1644. Digby, Nat. Bodies, xxvii. § 2. 243. The Turkish bathes … that seemeth chilly cold att his returne; which appeared melting hoat att his going in.
1867. F. W. Newman, in Mem., ix. (1909), 200. Turkish-bath keepers find it [smallpox] a most tractable disease.
1876. Bristowe, The. & Pract. Med. (1878), 745. For diaphoretic purposes we must not forget the value of the hot bath, the vapour bath, and the Turkish bath.
1908. Daily Chron., 5 Oct., 5/7. The Turkish bath conditions in which London has been living for the past few days were not so pronounced, and a drier heat seems to have taken the place of the vapour.
b. Turkish bean, cock, hen, horse, red, stone, wheat: see TURKEY1 3 a, 3 c, TURKEY-COOK, etc.; Turkish delight, a favorite sweetmeat of tough consistence, of Turkish origin; Turkish music, rug: see quots.; Turkish stitch, a kind of stitch used in Turkish and other Oriental embroideries. Turkish towel: see quot. 1882.
1894. E. Eggleston, in Century Mag., April, 849. The beans … found here were called *‘Turkish-beans’ by the first Dutch and Swedish writers on America.
1849. D. J. Browne, Amer. Poultry Yd. (1855), 51. Aldrovandi [1599–1603] in describing a *Turkish cock and two *Turkish hens, says: ‘The cock, whose likeness we now give, is called the Turkish cock.’
1870. *Turkish delight [cf. quot. from Dickens in 1].
1901. F. Hume, Golden Wang-ho, x. The thrusting forward of the Turkish delight box.
a. 1648. Ld. Herbert, Henry VIII. (1683), 184. He got hastily upon a *Turkish and swift Horse.
1889. Grove, Dict. Mus., IV. 191. *Turkish Music..., the accepted name for the noisy percussion instruments—big-drum, cymbals, triangle—in the orchestra.
1900. Jrnl. Soc. Dyers, XVI. 4. Dyeing in Adrianople or *Turkish Red.
1901. Rosa B. Holt, Rugs, ii. (Chicago), 52. *Turkish Rugs includes all those rugs that are manufactured within the Turkish Empire, whether [by] Kurds or Circassians or Christians;… Turkish rugs are not so finely woven as Persian.
c. 1890. Therèse de Dillmont, Encycl. Needlework, 94. Triangular two-sided *Turkish stitch worked diagonally. Ibid., 96. Triangular two-sided Turkish stitch worked horizontally. Ibid., 115. The triangular Turkish stitch … is particularly effective when combined with other kinds of embroidery.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 737. His bodie … was like the *Turkish or Iasper stone.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 3648. Royal *Turkish towels.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 504. Turkish Towels … are cotton cloths, having a long nap, cut or uncut.
1670. Covel, in Early Voy. Levant (Hakl. Soc.), 120. They make some [bread] of pure good wheat,… some of what we call *Turkish wheat.
1894. Century Mag., April, 849. Henry Hudson … called the maize ‘Turkish wheat.’
B. sb. 1. The Turkish or Turk’s language.
1718. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to Lady Rich, 16 March. In Pera they speak Turkish, Greek, Hebrew, Armenian, Arabic, Persian, Russian [etc.].
1753. [see RUSS sb. 2].
1888. Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 662/1. The relative pronoun has been borrowed from the Persian in many dialects; it is absent in the original Turkish.
2. ellipt. for Turkish fashion, people, etc.; also colloq. for Turkish delight, Turkish tobacco, etc.
a. 1674. Milton, Hist. Mosc., i. Wks. 1738, II. 132. The rest … ride with a short Stirrup after the Turkish.
1898. Century Mag., Feb., 558/1. The best ‘Turkish’ [sc. tobacco] the town provided.
1901. F. Hume, Golden Wang-ho, x. Feeling for another lump of ‘Turkish’ [sc. delight].
Hence † Turkisher, a Turk; cf. Britisher. Obs.
1607. R. C[arew], trans. Estienne’s World of Wonders, 13. I soone perceiued that it was my onely course to preuent these turkishers, by being mine owne interpreter.
