turn
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: tûrn
ipa: /tɜːn/
ipa: /tɔːn/
enpr: tûrn
ipa: /tɜɹn/
homophone: tern
homophone: tarn
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)n
Forms: form: turns
Etymology: Partly from Anglo-Norman *torn, from Latin tornus, from Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos), and partly an action noun from the verb turn.
Senses: examples: text: Give the handle a turn, then pull it.
text: With just the turn of a shoulder she indicated the water front, where[…]lay the good ship, Mount Vernon, river packet, the black smoke already pouring from her stacks. In turn he smiled and also shrugged a shoulder.
ref: 1910, Emerson Hough, “A Lady in Company”, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
glosses: A change of direction or orientation.
glosses: A movement of an object about its own axis in one direction that continues until the object returns to its initial orientation.
topics: geometry
mathematics
sciences
glosses: A movement of an object about its own axis in one direction that continues until the object returns to its initial orientation.
A unit of plane angle measurement based on this movement.
examples: text: Let's take a turn in the garden.
synonyms: promenade
glosses: A walk to and fro.
examples: text: They took turns playing with the new toy.
text: With just the turn of a shoulder she indicated the water front, where[…]lay the good ship, Mount Vernon, river packet, the black smoke already pouring from her stacks. In turn he smiled and also shrugged a shoulder.
ref: 1910, Emerson Hough, “A Lady in Company”, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
glosses: A chance to use (something) shared in sequence with others.
examples: text: I cooked tonight, so it's your turn to do the dishes.
glosses: A spell of work, especially the time allotted to a person in a rota or schedule.
glosses: One's chance to make a move in a game having two or more players.
glosses: A figure in music, often denoted ~, consisting of the note above the one indicated, the note itself, the note below the one indicated, and the note itself again.
examples: text: They quote a three-day turn on parts like those.
synonyms: turnaround
glosses: The time required to complete a project.
examples: text: I've had a funny turn.
text: I'm sure I never shall forget the turn young Simmons gave me when he came in with that paper as he'd been and copied out of a winder thro' being in a west-end house, […]
ref: 1865 September 23, “Mrs. Brown and the Emperor of the French”, in Fun, London: Published (for the proprietors) by Thomas Baker, →OCLC, page 17:
text: 'Then you must know as well as the rest of us that there was something queer about that gentleman—something that gave a man a turn—I don't know rightly how to say it, sir, beyond this: that you felt it in your marrow kind of cold and thin.'
ref: 1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Last Night”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 78–79:
glosses: A fit or a period of giddiness.
examples: text: She took a turn for the worse.
glosses: A change in temperament or circumstance.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A sideways movement of the ball when it bounces (caused by rotation in flight).
topics: card-games
poker
glosses: The fourth communal card in Texas hold 'em.
topics: card-games
poker
glosses: The flop (the first three community cards) in Texas hold 'em.
examples: text: One good turn deserves another.
text: I felt that the man was of a vindictive nature, and would do me an evil turn if he found the opportunity[…].
glosses: A deed done to another; an act of kindness or malice.
glosses: A single loop of a coil.
qualifier: rope
glosses: A pass behind or through an object.
examples: text: It was fortunate for his comfort, perhaps, that the man who had been chosen to accompany him was of a talkative turn, for the prisoners insisted upon hearing the story of the explosion a dozen times over, and Rufus Dawes himself had been roused to give the name of the vessel with his own lips.
ref: 1875, Marcus Clarke, “Typhus Fever”, in His Natural Life [For the Term of His Natural Life], volume I, London: Richard Bentley and Son, →OCLC, page 100:
english: For the Term of His Natural Life
translation: For the Term of His Natural Life
glosses: Character; personality; nature.
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
soccer
sports
glosses: An instance of going past an opposition player with the ball in one's control.
examples: text: Between the pieces were individual turns, comic songs and dances.
ref: 1960, Theatre Notebook, volumes 14-16, page 122:
topics: arts
circus
comedy
entertainment
hobbies
lifestyle
performing-arts
sports
theater
glosses: A short skit, act, or routine.
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: A type turned upside down to serve for another character that is not available.
examples: text: There are usually at least two jobbers who specialise in the leading stocks, and this acts to keep the jobber's turn to a reasonable amount […]
ref: 1977, Michael Arthur Firth, Valuation of Shares and the Efficient-markets Theory, page 11:
topics: business
finance
glosses: The profit made by a stockjobber, being the difference between the buying and selling prices.
Synonyms: sense: movement about an axis returning to the original orientation
word: 360° turn
sense: movement about an axis returning to the original orientation
word: complete rotation
sense: movement about an axis returning to the original orientation
word: complete turn
sense: movement about an axis returning to the original orientation
word: full rotation
sense: movement about an axis returning to the original orientation
word: full turn
sense: single loop of a coil
word: loop
sense: chance to use (something) shared in sequence with others
word: go
sense: one's chance to make a move in a game
word: go
sense: one's chance to make a move in a game
word: move
sense: fit or period of giddiness
word: dizziness
sense: fit or period of giddiness
word: dizzy spell
sense: fit or period of giddiness
word: giddiness
sense: change in temperament or circumstance
word: change
sense: change in temperament or circumstance
word: swing
Derived terms: about-turn
ampere-turn
at every turn
bad turn
bank-and-turn indicator
Buggins's turn
Buggins' turn
Choctaw turn
clubhouse turn
courtesy turn
Cruyff turn
epistemological turn
evil turn
face turn
far turn
filter in turn
flip turn
give someone a turn
good turn
hairpin turn
hammerhead turn
handbrake turn
hand's turn
heel/face turn
heel-face turn
heel turn
hook turn
ill turn
Immelmann turn
in-turn
in turn
J-turn
K-turn
left turn
linguistic turn
make a wrong turn at Albuquerque
make the wrong turn at Albuquerque
Marseille turn
moonshiner's turn
one bad turn deserves another
one good turn deserves another
one's turn in the barrel
one turn kill
on the turn
out of turn
out-turn
penalty turn
round turn
sea turn
serve the turn
speak out of turn
stall turn
star turn
Swiss-turn
take a turn
take a turn for the better
take a turn for the worse
take a wrong turn at Albuquerque
take in turn
take it in turns
take one's turn
take the wrong turn at Albuquerque
take turns
talk out of turn
telemark turn
the first turn of the screw pays all debts
three-point turn
to a turn
to the turn of a hair
tumble turn
turn-and-bank indicator
turn and turn about
turn-based
turn bench
turn button
turn-by-turn
turn-by-turn navigation
turncap
turn construction unit
turn indicator
turn of events
turn of foot
turn of mind
turn of pace
turn of phrase
turn of speed
turn of the century
turn of the screw
turn of the year
turn of words
turn-sick
turn signal
turn stop
turn-taking
U-turn
wait one's turn
wave turn
zero-turn
turning
Related terms: return
turnabout
turncoat
turning
turnout
turnover
turnpike
turnstile
turntable
ornament
trill