Definition of turn

• v. t. - To cause to move upon a center, or as if upon a center; to give circular motion to; to cause to revolve; to cause to move round, either partially, wholly, or repeatedly; to make to change position so as to present other sides in given directions; to make to face otherwise; as, to turn a wheel or a spindle; to turn the body or the head.
• v. t. - To cause to present a different side uppermost or outmost; to make the upper side the lower, or the inside to be the outside of; to reverse the position of; as, to turn a box or a board; to turn a coat.
• v. t. - To give another direction, tendency, or inclination to; to direct otherwise; to deflect; to incline differently; -- used both literally and figuratively; as, to turn the eyes to the heavens; to turn a horse from the road, or a ship from her course; to turn the attention to or from something.
• v. t. - To change from a given use or office; to divert, as to another purpose or end; to transfer; to use or employ; to apply; to devote.
• v. t. - To change the form, quality, aspect, or effect of; to alter; to metamorphose; to convert; to transform; -- often with to or into before the word denoting the effect or product of the change; as, to turn a worm into a winged insect; to turn green to blue; to turn prose into verse; to turn a Whig to a Tory, or a Hindu to a Christian; to turn good to evil, and the like.
• v. t. - To form in a lathe; to shape or fashion (anything) by applying a cutting tool to it while revolving; as, to turn the legs of stools or tables; to turn ivory or metal.
• v. t. - Hence, to give form to; to shape; to mold; to put in proper condition; to adapt.
• v. t. - To translate; to construe; as, to turn the Iliad.
• v. t. - To make acid or sour; to ferment; to curdle, etc.: as, to turn cider or wine; electricity turns milk quickly.
• v. t. - To sicken; to nauseate; as, an emetic turns one's stomach.
• v. i. - To move round; to have a circular motion; to revolve entirely, repeatedly, or partially; to change position, so as to face differently; to whirl or wheel round; as, a wheel turns on its axis; a spindle turns on a pivot; a man turns on his heel.
• v. i. - Hence, to revolve as if upon a point of support; to hinge; to depend; as, the decision turns on a single fact.
• v. i. - To result or terminate; to come about; to eventuate; to issue.
• v. i. - To be deflected; to take a different direction or tendency; to be directed otherwise; to be differently applied; to be transferred; as, to turn from the road.
• v. i. - To be changed, altered, or transformed; to become transmuted; also, to become by a change or changes; to grow; as, wood turns to stone; water turns to ice; one color turns to another; to turn Mohammedan.
• v. i. - To undergo the process of turning on a lathe; as, ivory turns well.
• v. i. - To become acid; to sour; -- said of milk, ale, etc.
• v. i. - To become giddy; -- said of the head or brain.
• v. i. - To be nauseated; -- said of the stomach.
• v. i. - To become inclined in the other direction; -- said of scales.
• v. i. - To change from ebb to flow, or from flow to ebb; -- said of the tide.
• v. i. - To bring down the feet of a child in the womb, in order to facilitate delivery.
• v. i. - To invert a type of the same thickness, as temporary substitute for any sort which is exhausted.
• n. - The act of turning; movement or motion about, or as if about, a center or axis; revolution; as, the turn of a wheel.
• n. - Change of direction, course, or tendency; different order, position, or aspect of affairs; alteration; vicissitude; as, the turn of the tide.
• n. - One of the successive portions of a course, or of a series of occurrences, reckoning from change to change; hence, a winding; a bend; a meander.
• n. - A circuitous walk, or a walk to and fro, ending where it began; a short walk; a stroll.
• n. - Successive course; opportunity enjoyed by alternation with another or with others, or in due order; due chance; alternate or incidental occasion; appropriate time.
• n. - Incidental or opportune deed or office; occasional act of kindness or malice; as, to do one an ill turn.
• n. - Convenience; occasion; purpose; exigence; as, this will not serve his turn.
• n. - Form; cast; shape; manner; fashion; -- used in a literal or figurative sense; hence, form of expression; mode of signifying; as, the turn of thought; a man of a sprightly turn in conversation.
• n. - A change of condition; especially, a sudden or recurring symptom of illness, as a nervous shock, or fainting spell; as, a bad turn.
• n. - A fall off the ladder at the gallows; a hanging; -- so called from the practice of causing the criminal to stand on a ladder which was turned over, so throwing him off, when the signal was given.
• n. - A round of a rope or cord in order to secure it, as about a pin or a cleat.
• n. - A pit sunk in some part of a drift.
• n. - A court of record, held by the sheriff twice a year in every hundred within his county.
• n. - Monthly courses; menses.
• n. - An embellishment or grace (marked thus, /), commonly consisting of the principal note, or that on which the turn is made, with the note above, and the semitone below, the note above being sounded first, the principal note next, and the semitone below last, the three being performed quickly, as a triplet preceding the marked note. The turn may be inverted so as to begin with the lower note, in which case the sign is either placed on end thus /, or drawn thus /.