The ranges are not high or steep, and one can turn a
kopje instead of cutting or tunneling through it.
--James Bryce.
{To turn turtle}, to capsize bottom upward; -- said of a
vessel. [Naut. slang] -- {To turn under} (Agric.), to put,
as soil, manure, etc., underneath from the surface by
plowing, digging, or the like.
Turn the adamantine spindle round. --Milton.
The monarch turns him to his royal guest. --Pope.
2. 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.
3. 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. ``Expert when to advance, or stand, or, turn
the sway of battle.'' --Milton.
Thrice I deluded her, and turned to sport Her
importunity. --Milton.
My thoughts are turned on peace. --Addison.
4. 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.
Therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto
David. --1 Chron. x.
14.
God will make these evils the occasion of a greater
good, by turning them to advantage in this world.
--Tillotson.
When the passage is open, land will be turned most
to cattle; when shut, to sheep. --Sir W.
Temple.
5. 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.
The Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have
compassion upon thee. --Deut. xxx.
3.
And David said, O Lord, I pray thee, turn the
counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. --2 Sam. xv.
31.
Impatience turns an ague into a fever. --Jer.
Taylor.
6. 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.
I had rather hear a brazen canstick turned. --Shak.
7. Hence, to give form to; to shape; to mold; to put in
proper condition; to adapt. ``The poet's pen turns them to
shapes.'' --Shak.
His limbs how turned, how broad his shoulders spread
! --Pope.
He was perfectly well turned for trade. --Addison.
8. Specifically:
(a) To translate; to construe; as, to turn the Iliad.
Who turns a Persian tale for half a crown.
--Pope.
(b) To make acid or sour; to ferment; to curdle, etc.: as,
to turn cider or wine; electricity turns milk quickly.
(c) To sicken; to nauseate; as, an emetic turns one's
stomach.
{To be turned of}, be advanced beyond; as, to be turned of
sixty-six.
{To turn a cold shoulder to}, to treat with neglect or
indifference.
{To turn a corner}, to go round a corner.
The gate . . . on golden hinges turning. --Milton.
2. Hence, to revolve as if upon a point of support; to hinge;
to depend; as, the decision turns on a single fact.
Conditions of peace certainly turn upon events of
war. --Swift.
3. To result or terminate; to come about; to eventuate; to
issue.
If we repent seriously, submit contentedly, and
serve him faithfully, afflictions shall turn to our
advantage. --Wake.
4. 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.
Turn from thy fierce wrath. --Ex. xxxii.
12.
Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways. --Ezek.
xxxiii. 11.
The understanding turns inward on itself, and
reflects on its own operations. --Locke.
5. 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.
I hope you have no intent to turn husband. --Shak.
Cygnets from gray turn white. --Bacon.
6. To undergo the process of turning on a lathe; as, ivory
turns well.
7. Specifically:
(a) To become acid; to sour; -- said of milk, ale, etc.
(b) To become giddy; -- said of the head or brain.
I'll look no more; Lest my brain turn. --Shak.
(c) To be nauseated; -- said of the stomach.
(d) To become inclined in the other direction; -- said of
scales.
(e) To change from ebb to flow, or from flow to ebb; --
said of the tide.
(f) (Obstetrics) To bring down the feet of a child in the
womb, in order to facilitate delivery.
8. (Print.) To invert a type of the same thickness, as
temporary substitute for any sort which is exhausted.
{To turn about}, to face to another quarter; to turn around.
{To turn again}, to come back after going; to return. --Shak.
{To turn against}, to become unfriendly or hostile to.
{To turn} {aside or away}.
(a) To turn from the direct course; to withdraw from a
company; to deviate.
(b) To depart; to remove.
(c) To avert one's face.
{To turn back}, to turn so as to go in an opposite direction;
to retrace one's steps.
{To turn in}.
(a) To bend inward.
(b) To enter for lodgings or entertainment.
(c) To go to bed. [Colloq.]
{To turn into}, to enter by making a turn; as, to turn into a
side street.
{To turn off}, to be diverted; to deviate from a course; as,
the road turns off to the left.
{To turn on} or {upon}.
(a) To turn against; to confront in hostility or anger.
(b) To reply to or retort.
(c) To depend on; as, the result turns on one condition.
{To turn out}.
(a) To move from its place, as a bone.
(b) To bend or point outward; as, his toes turn out.
(c) To rise from bed. [Colloq.]
(d) To come abroad; to appear; as, not many turned out to
the fire.
(e) To prove in the result; to issue; to result; as, the
crops turned out poorly.
{To turn over}, to turn from side to side; to roll; to
tumble.
{To turn round}.
(a) To change position so as to face in another direction.
(b) To change one's opinion; to change from one view or
party to another.
{To turn to}, to apply one's self to; have recourse to; to
refer to. ``Helvicus's tables may be turned to on all
occasions.'' --Locke.
{To turn to account}, {profit}, {advantage}, or the like, to
be made profitable or advantageous; to become worth the
while.
{To turn under}, to bend, or be folded, downward or under.
{To turn up}.
(a) To bend, or be doubled, upward.
(b) To appear; to come to light; to transpire; to occur;
to happen.
2. Change of direction, course, or tendency; different order,
position, or aspect of affairs; alteration; vicissitude;
as, the turn of the tide.
At length his complaint took a favorable turn.
--Macaulay.
The turns and varieties of all passions. --Hooker.
Too well the turns of mortal chance I know. --Pope.
3. 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.
And all its [the river's] thousand turns disclose.
Some fresher beauty varying round. --Byron.
4. A circuitous walk, or a walk to and fro, ending where it
began; a short walk; a stroll.
Come, you and I must walk a turn together. --Shak.
I will take a turn in your garden. --Dryden.
5. Successive course; opportunity enjoyed by alternation with
another or with others, or in due order; due chance;
alternate or incidental occasion; appropriate time.
``Nobleness and bounty . . . had their turns in his [the
king's] nature.''
His turn will come to laugh at you again. --Denham.
Every one has a fair turn to be as great as he
pleases. --Collier.
6. Incidental or opportune deed or office; occasional act of
kindness or malice; as, to do one an ill turn.
Had I not done a friendes turn to thee? --Chaucer.
thanks are half lost when good turns are delayed.
--Fairfax.
7. Convenience; occasion; purpose; exigence; as, this will
not serve his turn.
I have enough to serve mine own turn. --Shak.
8. 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.
The turn of both his expressions and thoughts is
unharmonious. --Dryden.
The Roman poets, in their description of a beautiful
man, often mention the turn of his neck and arms.
--Addison.
9. A change of condition; especially, a sudden or recurring
symptom of illness, as a nervous shock, or fainting spell;
as, a bad turn. [Colloq.]
10. 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. [Obs.]
11. A round of a rope or cord in order to secure it, as about
a pin or a cleat.
12. (Mining) A pit sunk in some part of a drift.
13. (Eng. Law) A court of record, held by the sheriff twice a
year in every hundred within his county. --Blount.
14. pl. (Med.) Monthly courses; menses. [Colloq.]
15. (Mus.) 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 ?.
{By turns}.
(a) One after another; alternately; in succession.
(b) At intervals. ``[They] feel by turns the bitter
change.'' --Milton.
{In turn}, in due order of succession.
{To a turn}, exactly; perfectly; as, done to a turn; -- a
phrase alluding to the practice of cooking on a revolving
spit.
{To take turns}, to alternate; to succeed one another in due
order.
{Turn and turn about}, by equal alternating periods of
service or duty; by turns.
{Turn bench}, a simple portable lathe, used on a bench by
clock makers and watchmakers.
{Turn buckle}. See {Turnbuckle}, in Vocabulary.
{Turn cap}, a sort of chimney cap which turns round with the
wind so as to present its opening to the leeward. --G.
Francis.
{Turn of life} (Med.), change of life. See under {Change}.