turn on
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: turns on
form: turning on
form: turned on
form: turned on
Senses: examples: text: Turn on the tap/faucet.
glosses: To set a flow of fluid or gas running by rotating a tap or valve.
examples: text: Please turn the lights on so I can see what I'm reading.
text: Please turn on automatic updates.
text: Hello, IT. Have you tried turning it off and turning it on again? Ok. Well, are you sure that it's plugged in?
ref: 2006 February 17, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, season 1, episode 4:
text: Robins, of Torquay, had denied a single charge of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal. She claimed the microwave was accidentally turned on by one of the cats after the kitten got inside. But Knutton said the kitten was too small to even get onto the work surface.
ref: 2011 December 14, Steven Morris, “Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave”, in The Guardian:
glosses: To power up, to put into operation, to start, to activate (an appliance, light, mechanism, functionality etc.).
examples: text: My computer won't turn on.
glosses: To start operating; to power up, to become on.
raw_tags: of a device
examples: text: Attractive packaging can turn buyers on to a product.
text: Attractive showroom models can turn buyers on.
text: Hearing that song turned me on to jazz fusion.
glosses: To introduce (someone to something), and especially to fill them with enthusiasm (about it); to intoxicate, give pleasure to ( + to an object of interest or excitement).
examples: text: John's a maid fetishist. Maid outfits really turn him on.
text: You don't have to be beautiful to turn me on / I just need your body, baby, from dusk 'til dawn
ref: 1986, Prince, “Kiss”, in Parade, performed by Prince and the Revolution:
text: You really turn me on / You knock me off of my feet / My lonely days are gone
ref: 1987, “The Way You Make Me Feel”, in Bad, performed by Michael Jackson:
text: You make me feel like I'm livin' a teenage dream / The way you turn me on, I can't sleep
ref: 2010, “Teenage Dream”, performed by Katy Perry:
glosses: To sexually arouse.
examples: text: "Well, they seem to always have dope up there, and I like to turn on, too."
"You do?"
"Sure. Cops is just people. I don't drink, so I gotta do something to get my kicks."
ref: 1971, Chuck Barnes, Revenge, Timely Books:
glosses: To take drugs.
examples: text: In fact, many youngsters will not even turn on a close friend if they know he has never used drugs. And it is rare indeed for a youth to actively seek out people to turn on.
ref: 1976, Robert H. Coombs, Lincoln J. Fry, Patricia G. Lewis, Socialization in drug abuse:
glosses: To cause to take up drugs, especially hallucinogens.
examples: text: He turned the searchlight on the passing planes.
text: Cornered by the authorities, the shooter turned the gun on himself.
glosses: To aim at.
examples: text: Suddenly all his friends turned on him.
text: She was Nicolas Sarkozy's pin-up for diversity, the first Muslim woman with north African parents to hold a major French government post. But Rachida Dati has now turned on her own party elite with such ferocity that some have suggested she should be expelled from the president's ruling party.
ref: 2011 December 14, Angelique Chrisafis, “Rachida Dati accuses French PM of sexism and elitism”, in Guardian:
text: Milk Tea Alliance: are young Thais turning on China over Hong Kong?
ref: 2020 June 14, Jitsiree Thongnoi, “Milk Tea Alliance: are young Thais turning on China over Hong Kong?”, in South China Morning Post, retrieved 16 Jun 2020:
text: The year before, Ariana Grande's fandom, the Arianators, turned on a journalist who had called the star “a spoiled white girl”.
ref: 2025 October 25, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, “Call yourself a fan?”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 1:
glosses: To rebel against; to suddenly attack.
examples: text: We need to be thinking about what it means the way they are locking us up, and turning us on each other. We need to start fighting for our rights together.
ref: 1984 August 18, X-Con, “Women In Cages”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 6, page 7:
glosses: To cause (someone) to rebel against or suddenly attack (someone else).
examples: text: The argument turned on the question of whether or not jobs would be lost.
glosses: To depend upon; to pivot around, to have as a central subject.
Synonyms: english: sense 9
translation: sense 9
word: turn against
Coordinate terms: english: senses 1 to 4 inclusive
translation: senses 1 to 4 inclusive
word: keep on
english: senses 1 to 4 inclusive
translation: senses 1 to 4 inclusive
word: leave on
Derived terms: word: turn-on
word: turnon
word: turn on the waterworks
word: turn-on time