# turn

Pronunciation: say "TURN" US /tɜɹn/, UK /tɜːn/

## Verb

1. To move, or make something move, around a central point or into a different position.
   - Simple: To go round, or move something so it faces another way.
   - _Turn the picture to face the wall._
   - _She turned the key and the engine caught._
2. To change fundamentally into something else, or to make something change in this way.
   - Simple: To change completely into something else, or make something do this, as in turn into a butterfly or turn water into ice.
   - _The caterpillar will turn into a butterfly._
   - _Their friendship turned into something more._
3. To alter course so as to go in a new direction.
   - Simple: To change the direction you are going in.
   - _The road turns sharply before the bridge._
   - _We had to turn back when the snow started._
4. To become, or to begin to be.
   - Simple: To begin to be, used with a describing word, as in turn cold or turn red.
   - _The weather turned cold overnight._
   - _Leave the bread out and it will turn stale._
7. Followed by to: to look to someone or something for help, advice, comfort, or an answer, often once other choices have run out.
   - Simple: To go to someone or something for help, advice or comfort, often when nothing else has worked.
   - _After two banks rejected their loan, the couple turned to a credit union._
   - _Patients with no other options sometimes turn to experimental treatments._
8. To direct one's attention, one's thoughts, or a conversation toward a different subject; also, of thoughts, to come to dwell on something.
   - Simple: To move your thoughts, attention or a talk on to a new subject, or for your thoughts to go there.
   - _After the vote, the committee turned its attention to the school budget._
   - _Conversation at our family dinners always seems to turn to politics._
9. To reach a stated age.
   - Simple: To reach a certain age.
   - _My grandfather will turn ninety in May._
   - _The company turns a hundred next year._
11. To rebel or go against what one formerly tolerated, with on or against.
   - Simple: To attack or go against someone you used to accept, with 'on' or 'against'.
   - _The crowd turned on the speaker when he mentioned taxes._
   - _Even his oldest friends began to turn against him._
16. To navigate through a book or printed pages.
   - Simple: To move through the pages of a book.
   - _Turn to the index at the back._
   - _She turned to the last chapter first._
12. To switch to a different course of action or way of approaching something.
   - Simple: To change your course of action or your attitude.
   - _After the scandal, the company promised to turn from secrecy to openness._
   - _Late in life he turned to painting._
13. To send something, or force it, into a particular place.
   - Simple: To put or move something into a place.
   - _In May the farmer turns his sheep onto the fresh spring grass._
   - _Once it has set, turn the cake onto a wire rack and let it cool completely._
14. In fantasy, to change a person into a vampire, werewolf, zombie, or similar creature, or to become one.
   - Simple: In stories, to change a person into a vampire, werewolf or zombie, or to become one yourself.
   - _According to the legend, a single bite under a full moon is enough to turn a human._
   - _Everyone bitten during the outbreak turned within a few hours._
17. Of milk, wine, or food, to sour, spoil, or go bad.
   - Simple: To go bad or sour, used about milk, wine or food.
   - _The meat turned in the heat._
   - _Fish will turn faster than anything else in the fridge._
15. To give form to something; to shape or adapt.
   - Simple: To shape or form something, as a craftsman does.
   - _She has a rare gift for turning a phrase, so her speeches are never dull._
   - _Few writers can turn a phrase as neatly as she does._
18. To twist or sprain a joint.
   - Simple: To twist your ankle or wrist and hurt it.
   - _He turned his ankle in the last minute of the match._
   - _A loose stone is all it takes to turn an ankle._
20. Of leaves or trees, to change color in autumn.
   - Simple: To change color in autumn, used about leaves and trees.
   - _Tourists come when the leaves turn._
   - _The birches were turning gold along the river._
22. To make or earn money.
   - Simple: To bring in money, such as a profit.
   - _They turned a small profit in their second year._
   - _It took the little theater five years to turn a profit, but now it pays its own way._
24. To sicken or nauseate, chiefly with stomach as the object.
   - Simple: To make someone feel sick, usually with 'stomach'.
   - _The description of the wound turned his stomach._
   - _Even the thought of it is enough to turn my stomach._
26. To hinge or depend on something.
   - Simple: To rest or depend on something.
   - _The case turns on what the letter meant._
   - _Whether we go will turn on the weather._
27. To fold something into a particular position, as when turning back bedsheets or turning down a collar.
   - Simple: To fold something into place.
   - _The maid had turned the sheets back for the night._
   - _His collar was sticking up at the back, so his mother reached over to turn it down._
28. Usually with over or around, to complete a job.
   - Simple: To finish a job, usually with 'over' or 'around'.
   - _The shop promised to turn our order around in forty-eight hours._
   - _The translation team turned the whole manual around in just two days._
30. To give something an even, symmetrical shape by spinning it against a cutting tool that stays still, as on a lathe.
   - Simple: To make something round and even by spinning it against a cutting tool, as on a lathe.
   - _Machinists turn steel shafts to within a thousandth of an inch._
   - _He spent the winter turning maple spindles for the new staircase._

## Noun

5. The time or chance for one person to do something, such as play, move, or work, when others take part in order.
   - Simple: Your chance to do something, like play or work, when people take it in order one after another.
   - _Wait your turn at the slide._
   - _Each child had a turn on the pony._
6. A change of direction or orientation, or the act of making one.
   - Simple: An act of turning something, or a change of direction.
   - _Make a left turn at the gas station, then look for the blue house._
   - _The car took the turn too fast._
10. A change in condition or circumstance, usually a sudden one.
   - Simple: A change, often sudden, in a situation or in someone's health or luck.
   - _The patient took a turn for the better by morning._
   - _The story takes a dark turn in the third act._
19. The moment at which one span of time, such as a year, decade, or century, gives way to the next.
   - Simple: The moment when one period of time, like a year or a century, ends and a new one starts.
   - _The city's population nearly doubled in the years after the turn of the twentieth century._
   - _Worries about computer failures ran high as the turn of the millennium approached._
21. One complete rotation of an object about its own axis, back to where it started.
   - Simple: One full rotation of something around its own center.
   - _Each turn of the crank lifts the bucket a foot._
   - _The dancer finished with two quick turns._
23. A short act, skit, or routine in a show, especially in the circus, the theater, or physical comedy.
   - Simple: A short act or performance in a show, often a funny, physical one.
   - _Each comedian did a ten-minute turn before the headliner came on._
   - _Between the acrobats and the jugglers came a string of slapstick turns._
25. A deed done to another person, whether kind or spiteful.
   - Simple: Something kind or unkind you do for or to someone.
   - _She did me a good turn when I was broke._
   - _The scout's rule was one good turn a day._
29. The time needed to complete a job, its turnaround.
   - Simple: The time a job takes from start to finish.
   - _The lab promises a two-day turn on samples._
   - _Our standard turn is ten working days, but rush orders can be finished in three._
31. A single loop of a coil; one wrap of the wire.
   - Simple: One loop of wire in a coil.
   - _The coil is made of two hundred turns of thin copper wire wound around an iron core._
   - _Wind each turn tight against the last._
32. Character, disposition, or cast of personality.
   - Simple: The kind of character or nature someone has.
   - _Even as a child she showed a scientific turn of mind, collecting insects and labeling every one._
   - _His gloomy turn of mind led him to expect the worst from every new plan._
33. A walk to and fro; a stroll.
   - Simple: A short walk for pleasure.
   - _He took a turn round the square after dinner._
   - _A turn in the fresh air will do you good._
34. A sudden attack, as of faintness or shock, or a brief spell of dizziness.
   - Simple: A short time when you suddenly feel dizzy or unwell.
   - _After a bad turn at church, the old man agreed to see a doctor._
   - _She has had several of these turns since the fall, each lasting a minute or two._

## Other meanings

- (verb) To spin the ball so that it moves sideways after bouncing, said of a bowler in cricket.
- (verb) In cricket, of the ball, to veer to one side after hitting the ground.
- (verb) To cause milk or another food or drink to go sour or curdle.
- (verb) To cause someone to change their gender or whom they are attracted to, or to stir a new sexual interest in them.
- (verb) In professional wrestling, to switch roles from hero to villain or the other way around.
- (verb) Of the head, to spin with dizziness, or to make someone dizzy.
- (verb) In soccer and similar games, to get past a defender while keeping the ball under control, often by spinning away.
- (verb) Of wood, ivory or another material, to be shaped on a lathe, often said of how well or badly it works.
- (verb) To shift an unborn baby inside the womb so that it comes out feet first, to make the birth easier.
- (verb) In hand typesetting, to set a piece of type upside down as a stand-in for a character that has run out.
- (verb) To put words into another language.
- (verb) In fantasy role-playing games, to drive off undead creatures using holy or magical power.
- (noun) A measure of angle equal to one full circle, or 360 degrees.
- (noun) A musical ornament, often marked with a sideways S symbol, that plays the note above, the main note, the note below, then the main note again.
- (noun) In cricket, the sideways change in a ball's direction as it bounces, produced by spin.
- (noun) In Texas hold 'em, the fourth shared card dealt face up on the table.
- (noun) In knot tying, a single loop of rope taken around or through an object.
- (noun) In soccer and similar games, a move in which a player gets by a defender while keeping the ball under control.
- (noun) In hand typesetting, a letter set upside down as a placeholder when the right letter has run out.
- (noun) The gain a stock jobber made from the gap between the price at which shares were bought and the price at which they were sold.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–4, 7–9, 11–18, 20, 22, 24, 26–28, 30** — Modern turn continues Middle English turnen, which combined Old English turnian and tyrnan (meaning to turn, rotate, or revolve) with Old French torner. The Old English forms came through Proto-West Germanic. Both branches trace back to Latin tornāre, meaning to shape something on a lathe or round it off. That verb was formed from Latin tornus (lathe), borrowed from Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos), a tool for drawing circles. Its deeper ancestor is a Proto-Indo-European root meaning to rub, turn, or twist.
**Meanings 5–6, 10, 19, 21, 23, 25, 29, 31–34** — This has two sources. One is Anglo-Norman *torn, which goes back through Latin tornus to Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos). The other is the verb turn, from which it was formed as an action noun.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/turn (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).