TURN

Definitions

1. 1. The act of turning; movement or motion about, or as if about, a center or axis; revolution; as, the turn of a wheel.
2. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 7. Convenience; occasion; purpose; exigence; as, this will not serve his turn. I have enough to serve mine own turn. Shak.
8. 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. 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. 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. 11. A round of a rope or cord in order to secure it, as about a pin or a cleat.
12. 12. A pit sunk in some part of a drift.
13. 13. A court of record, held by the sheriff twice a year in every hundred within his county. Blount.
14. 14. Monthly courses; menses. [Colloq.]
15. 15. An embellishment or grace (marked 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. -- Turn screw, a screw driver.