Adjacent Words

To turn back definitions

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Webster's 1913 Dictionary

To turn adrift, to cast off, to cease to care for. To turn a flange (Mech.), to form a flange on, as around a metal sheet or boiler plate, by stretching, bending, and hammering, or rolling the metal. To turn against. (a) To direct against; as, to turn one's arguments against himself. (b) To make unfavorable or hostile to; as, to turn one's friends against him. To turn a hostile army, To turn the enemy's flank, or the like (Mil.), to pass round it, and take a position behind it or upon its side. To turn a penny, or To turn an honest penny, to make a small profit by trade, or the like. To turn around one's finger, to have complete control of the will and actions of; to be able to influence at pleasure. To turn aside, to avert. To turn away. (a) To dismiss from service; to discard; as, to turn away a servant. (b) To avert; as, to turn away wrath or evil. To turn back. (a) To give back; to return. We turn not back the silks upon the merchants, When we have soiled them. --Shak. (b) To cause to return or retrace one's steps; hence, to drive away; to repel. --Shak. To turn down. (a) To fold or double down. (b) To turn over so as to conceal the face of; as, to turn down cards. (c) To lower, or reduce in size, by turning a valve, stopcock, or the like; as, turn down the lights. To turn in. (a) To fold or double under; as, to turn in the edge of cloth. (b) To direct inwards; as, to turn the toes in when walking. (c) To contribute; to deliver up; as, he turned in a large amount. [Colloq.] To turn in the mind, to revolve, ponder, or meditate upon; -- with about, over, etc. `` Turn these ideas about in your mind.'' --I. Watts. To turn off. (a) To dismiss contemptuously; as, to turn off a sycophant or a parasite. (b) To give over; to reduce. (c) To divert; to deflect; as, to turn off the thoughts from serious subjects; to turn off a joke. (d) To accomplish; to perform, as work. (e) (Mech.) To remove, as a surface, by the process of turning; to reduce in size by turning. (f) To shut off, as a fluid, by means of a valve, stopcock, or other device; to stop the passage of; as, to turn off the water or the gas.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Turn Turn, v. i. 1. 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. 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.