turn 
(tûrn)
(tûrn)v. turned, turn·ing, turns
v.tr.
Phrasal Verbs: 1.
a. To cause to move around an axis or center; cause to rotate or revolve: A motor turns the wheels.
b. To cause to move around in order to achieve a result, such as opening, closing, tightening, or loosening: turn the key; turn a screw.
2. To alter or control the functioning of (a mechanical device, for example) by the use of a rotating or similar movement: turned the iron to a hotter setting.
3. To perform or accomplish by rotating or revolving: turn a somersault.
4.
a. To change the position of so that the underside becomes the upper side: turn the steak; turn a page.
b. To spade or plow (soil) to bring the undersoil to the surface.
c. To reverse and resew the material of (a collar, for example).
5. To revolve in the mind; meditate on; ponder: turned the question in her mind.
6.
a. To give a rounded form to (wood, for example) by rotating against a cutting tool.
b. To give a rounded shape to (clay, for example) by rotating and shaping with the hands or tools.
c. To give a rounded form to: turn a heel in knitting a sock.
d. To give distinctive, artistic, or graceful form to: "They know precisely how to turn a dramatic line or phrase that is guaranteed to make the evening news" (William Safire).
turn away
1. To send away; dismiss: turned away the clerk.
2. To repel: The poor location of the house turned away prospective buyers.
3. To avert; deflect: turned away all criticism.
turn back
1. To reverse one's direction of motion: stopped on the road and had to turn back.
2. To drive back and away: turned back the uninvited comers.
3. To halt the advance of: turned back the advancing army.
4. To fold down: Turn back the page's corner to save your place in the book.
turn down
1. To diminish the speed, volume, intensity, or flow of: Turn down the radio, please.
2. To reject or refuse, as a person, advice, or a suggestion: turned down the invitation.
3. To fold or be capable of folding down: turn a collar down; a collar that turns down.
turn in
1. To hand in; give over: turned in the final exam.
2. To inform on or deliver: The criminal turned herself in.
3. To produce: turns in a consistent performance every day.
4. Informal To go to bed: I turned in early last night.
turn off
1. To stop the operation, activity, or flow of; shut off: turned off the television.
2. Slang
a. To affect with dislike, displeasure, or revulsion: That song really turns me off.
b. To affect with boredom: The play turned the audience off.
c. To lose or cause to lose interest; withdraw: turning off to materialism.
d. To cease paying attention to: The student turned off the boring lecture and daydreamed.
3. To divert; deflect.
4. Chiefly British To dismiss (an employee).
turn on
1. To cause to begin the operation, activity, or flow of: Turn on the light bulb.
2. To begin to display, employ, or exude: turn on the charm.
3. Slang
a. To take or cause to take a mind-altering drug, especially for the first time.
b. To be or cause to become interested, pleasurably excited, or stimulated. Often used with to: My aunt turned me on to jazz. She turned on to surfing this summer.
c. To excite or become excited sexually.
turn out
1. To shut off: turned out the lights.
2. To arrive or assemble, as for a public event or entertainment: Many protesters have turned out.
3. To produce, as by a manufacturing process; make: an assembly line turning out cars.
4. To be found to be, as after experience or trial: The rookie turned out to be the team's best hitter.
5. To end up; result: The cake turned out beautifully.
6. To equip; outfit: troops that were turned out lavishly
7. Informal To get out of bed.
8. To evict; expel: The tenants were turned out.
turn over
1. To bring the bottom to the top or vice versa; invert.
2.
a. To shift the position of, as by rolling from one side to the other.
b. To shift one's position by rolling from one side to the other.
3. To start operating or cause to start operating: The car's engine turned over. The starter couldn't turn the engine over.
4. To think about; consider: turned over the problem in her mind.
5. To be replaced by something else of the same kind: the rate at which the workforce turns over.
6. To transfer to another; deliver: turned over the suspect to federal agents.
7. To relinquish or surrender: turned over the management of the business to new owners.
8. Sports To lose possession of (the ball or puck).
9. To do business to the extent or amount of: turn over a million dollars a year.
10. To seem to lurch or heave convulsively: My stomach turned over.
turn to
To begin work: If you quit dawdling and just turn to, your chores will be done soon.
turn up
Idioms: 1. To increase the speed, volume, intensity, or flow of: Turn up the radio.
2.
a. To find: She turned up the missing keys under her briefcase.
b. To be found: The papers will turn up sooner or later.
3. To make an appearance; arrive: Many old friends turned up at the reunion.
4. To fold or be capable of folding up: turning up his cuffs; cuffs that will turn up.
5. To happen unexpectedly: Something turned up, so I couldn't go.
6. To be evident: a sculptor whose name turns up in the art circles.
at every turn
In every place; at every moment.
by turns
One after another; alternately: "From the ... testimony emerges a man by turns devious and honest, vulgar and gallant, scatterbrained and shrewd" (Life).
in turn
In the proper order or sequence.
out of turn
1. Not in the proper order or sequence.
2. At an inappropriate time or in an inappropriate manner: The student was reprimanded for speaking out of turn.
to a turn
To a precise degree; perfectly: The roast was done to a turn.
turn a blind eye
To refuse to see or recognize something: turned a blind eye to tax fraud.
turn a deaf ear
To refuse to listen to or hear something: turned a deaf ear to the protests.
turn a hair
To become afraid or upset: didn't turn a hair during the crisis.
turn (one's) back on
1. To deny; reject.
2. To abandon; forsake.
turn (one's) hand
To apply oneself, as to a task: turned her hand to writing the report.
turn (one's) head
1. To cause to become infatuated.
2. To cause to become egotistical and conceited: Success has turned his head.
turn over a new leaf
To start acting or thinking in a more positive or responsible way.
turn tail
To run away.
turn the/a corner
To reach and surpass a midpoint or milestone.
turn the other cheek
To respond to insult or injury by patiently eschewing retaliation.
turn the scales
To offset the balance of a situation.
turn the tables
To reverse a situation and gain the upper hand.
turn turtle
To capsize or turn upside-down: Our sailboat turned turtle during the squall.
turn up (one's) nose
To regard something with disdain or scorn: turned up her nose at the food.
[Middle English turnen, from Old English turnian, tyrnan and Old French torner, both from Latin tornāre, to turn in a lathe, from tornus, lathe, from Greek tornos; see terə-1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
Synonyms: turn, circle, rotate, revolve, gyrate, spin, whirl, eddy, swirl
These verbs mean to move a in circle. Turn and circle are the most general: The mechanic made sure the wheels turned properly. Seagulls circled above the ocean. Rotate refers to movement around an object's own axis or center: Earth rotates on its axis once each day. Revolve involves orbital movement: Earth revolves around the sun. Gyrate suggests revolving in or as if in a spiral course: The top gyrated on the counter and slowly came to a stop. To spin is to rotate rapidly, often within a narrow compass: "He ... spun round, flung up his arms, and fell on his back, shot through" (John Galsworthy).
Whirl applies to rapid or forceful revolution or rotation: During the blizzard, snowflakes whirled down from the sky. Eddy denotes rapid circular movement like that of a whirlpool: Storm clouds eddied overhead. Swirl can connote a graceful undulation, spiral, or whorl: The leaves swirled in the wind.
These verbs mean to move a in circle. Turn and circle are the most general: The mechanic made sure the wheels turned properly. Seagulls circled above the ocean. Rotate refers to movement around an object's own axis or center: Earth rotates on its axis once each day. Revolve involves orbital movement: Earth revolves around the sun. Gyrate suggests revolving in or as if in a spiral course: The top gyrated on the counter and slowly came to a stop. To spin is to rotate rapidly, often within a narrow compass: "He ... spun round, flung up his arms, and fell on his back, shot through" (John Galsworthy).
Whirl applies to rapid or forceful revolution or rotation: During the blizzard, snowflakes whirled down from the sky. Eddy denotes rapid circular movement like that of a whirlpool: Storm clouds eddied overhead. Swirl can connote a graceful undulation, spiral, or whorl: The leaves swirled in the wind.