- (v.t.) To make a turn about or around (something); to go or pass around by turning; as, to turn a corner.
- (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 change from ebb to flow or from flow to ebb; -- said of the tide.
- (n.) Convenience; occasion; purpose; exigence; as, this will not serve his turn.
- (v.i.) To invert a type of the same thickness, as temporary substitute for any sort which is exhausted.
- (n.) A round of a rope or cord in order to secure it, as about a pin or a cleat.
- (n.) Incidental or opportune deed or office; occasional act of kindness or malice; as, to do one an ill turn.
- (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.
- (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.
- (v.i.) To become giddy; -- said of the head or brain.
- (v.i.) To become inclined in the other direction; -- said of scales.
- (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.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.
- (n.) Change of direction, course or tendency; different order, position or aspect of affairs; alteration; vicissitude; as, the turn of the tide.
- (v.i.) To become acid; to sour; -- said of milk, ale, etc.
- (v.i.) Hence, to revolve as if upon a point of support; to hinge; to depend; as, the decision turns on a single fact.
- (n.) A pit sunk in some part of a drift.
- (n.) A circuitous walk or a walk to and fro, ending where it began; a short walk; a stroll.
- (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.
- (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.
- (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.
- (v.i.) To result or terminate; to come about; to eventuate; to issue.
- (n.) Monthly courses; menses.
- (v.t.) To translate; to construe; as, to turn the Iliad.
- (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.) Hence, to give form to; to shape; to mold; to put in proper condition; to adapt.
- (v.i.) To bring down the feet of a child in the womb, in order to facilitate delivery.
- (v.i.) To be nauseated; -- said of the stomach.
- (v.t.) To sicken; to nauseate; as, an emetic turns one's stomach.
- (v.i.) To undergo the process of turning on a lathe; as, ivory turns well.
- (n.) A court of record, held by the sheriff twice a year in every hundred within his county.
- (n.) Successive course; opportunity enjoyed by alternation with another or with others or in due order; due chance; alternate or incidental occasion; appropriate time.
- (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.
- (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.) The act of turning; movement or motion about or as if about, a center or axis; revolution; as, the turn of a wheel.
- (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 make acid or sour; to ferment; to curdle, etc.: as, to turn cider or wine; electricity turns milk quickly.
- (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 /.
- (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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
| APA | Webster's. (2011). turn. Retrieved September 20, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/turn/definitions/2075607 |
| Chicago | Webster's. 2011. "turn" http://smartdefine.org/turn/definitions/2075607 (accessed September 20, 2026). |
| Harvard | Webster's 2011, turn, Smart Define, viewed 20 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/turn/definitions/2075607>. |
| MLA | Webster's. "turn" 28 May 2011. Web. 20 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/turn/definitions/2075607> |