Cold turkey

Meaning

To give up a habit suddenly

Example

“I quit smoking cold turkey after my doctor told me that I might get lung cancer if I kept on smoking.”

Origin

Although the exact origin of this expression is not known, most experts relate its roots from the fact that, in America, there was a sudden end to the excessive alcohol consumption at the end of the Thanksgiving / Christmas holiday season and this was also signaled by the end of leftover cold turkey dinners. Hence, this memory association led people to use this expression when describing their sudden withdrawal from a certain habit.