turkey merchant meaning

• noun
    One trading with the Near East

• turkey:    Noun: turkey  ...
• merchant:    Noun: merchant&nbs ...
• merchandise, merchant | merchandise | merchant | merchant merchandise |:    [Law]MERCHANDISE - ...

Examples

1. Erasmus Smith had become a " Turkey merchant ".
2. In 1627 he became a Turkey merchant and joined the Levant and East India Companies.
3. He was apprenticed to Sir Richard Napier, a Turkey merchant, for whom he worked in the Near East.
4. He was the eldest of the seven sons of London Turkey merchant Sir Edward des Bouverie ( died 2 April 1694, aged 72 ) of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire.
5. Again the importers lent the name to the bird : because these merchants were called " Turkey merchants " as much of the area was part of the Ottoman Empire.