turn 
This house is turned upside down since Robin Ostler 
died. Shale., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 1. 11. 
I talke and prate, and lay 't not on their jackes, 
And the proud Jacks care not a fig for me ; 
But bones a me, lie tunie anotllei leafe. 
Heyiromi, If you Know not me (Works, ed. 1874, I. 257). 
When she [the hen] has laid her eggs in such a manner 
that she can cover them, what care does she take in turn- 
ing them frequently, that all parts may partake of the vital 
warmth. Addition, Spectator, No. 120. 
10. To throw; overthrow; overturn. 
All Troy for to take and time at hor wille. 
Destruction of Trail (E. E. T. S.), 1. 4508. 
The Troiens with tene thai tirnyt to ground, 
Kyld of hor knightes <fe comyns full mony. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 10282. 
lit. To set. 
The Troiens thaire tore shippis hade turnyt on ffyre, 
Wold haue brent horn barly, botis & other. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 7112. 
12f. To return; send back. 
Tell her I sent it to make merry with, 
She'll turn us thanks at least ! 
B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2. 
13. To transfer; put into other hands; turn 
over. 
Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to 
aliens. Lani. v. 2. 
14. To fold so that the other side may appear: 
as, to turn down one's collar. 15. To remake 
with the inside turned out ; make over again by 
reversing the material : as, to turn a garment. 
A pair of old breeches thrice turned. 
Shale., T. of the S., iii. 2. 44. 
Mrs. Cratchit, . . . dressed out but poorly in a twice- 
turned gown. Dickens, Christmas Carol, iii. 
Her satin gown had been turned and made over till 
every possible capability of it was exhausted. 
H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 51. 
16. To change to another opinion or party; 
change with respect to convictions, sentiments, 
feelings, or conduct ; convert or pervert. 
One suffering for the truth turneth more than a thou- 
sand sermons. Latimer, Misc. Sel. 
Will nothing turn your unrelenting hearts? 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., v. 4. 59. 
So, turn, good Lord, O turn the hearts of Princes, 
Whose Rage their realms with Saints deer bloud berinses. 
Sylvester, tr. of Bethulians Rescue, vi. 
Wisest woman 
That ever tipped her tongue with point of reasons, 
To turn her hearers ! B. Jonson, Magnetick Lady, iv. 2. 
17. To change or alter the nature, character, 
or appearance of in any way ; change into some- 
thing else; transform; transmute; metamor- 
phose. 
Watir to wyne he turned ryue, 
He garte corne growe with-outen plogh, 
Wher are was none. York Plays, p. 205. 
There an Aungelhelde Jacob stille, and(rnrf his Name, 
and cleped him Israel. Mandeville, Travels, p. 86. 
There was sometime in (Ecea a woman called Circe, which 
by enchantment . . . used with a drink to turn as many 
men as received it into divers likeness and figures of sundry 
beasts. Sir T. More, Life of Picus (Utopia, Int., p. Ixxxi.). 
You may as well go about to turn the sun to ice with fan- 
ning in his face with a peacock's feather. 
Shale., Hen. V., iv. 1. 212. 
They '11 turn me in your arms, Janet, 
An adder and an ask. 
The Young Tamlane (Child's Ballads, 1. 122). 
Nay, must my mirth be so suddenly turned into bitter 
bowlings, and my ease into a bed of flames? 
Stillingfleet, Sermons, I. xi. 
18. To change from one language or form of 
expression to another; paraphrase; translate; 
construe. 
Most of these things we had from his own mouth, and 
heard him turn the oriental languages into Latin very 
readily. Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 233. 
At the age of eleven [Emerson] was turning Virgil into 
very readable English heroics. O. W. Holmes, Emerson, i. 
19. To change from a fresh, sweet, or other- 
wise natural condition; cause to ferment, be- 
come sour, or the like : as, warm weather turns 
milk. 
You've almost turned my good affection to you 
Soured my sweet thoughts, all my pure purposes. 
B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, ii. 3. 
20. To put or bring into a certain state or con- 
dition : as, the wine has turned him sick. 
A slave that still . . . turns me to shame. 
Shak., T. G. of V., iv. 4. 67. 
Should I tell you gravely that without the help of coins 
we should never have known which was the first of the 
emperors that wore a beard, or rode in stirrups I might 
turn my science into ridicule. 
Addison, Dialogues on Medals, i. 
2 If. To get around; trick; beguile; cheat. 
Til he had torned him he coude not blinne. 
Chaucer, Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 160. 
22. To render unbalanced or unsound ; dis- 
tract: as, to turn one's head. See the phrase be- 
low Not to turn a hair. See haw. TO be turned, 
0538 
or to be turned Of, to be or to have advanced beyond : 
said with regard to age. 
Irus, though he /* now turned of fifty, has not appeared 
in the world in his real character since five-and-twenty. 
Steele, Spectator, No. ^G4. 
When they [miners] are turned of thirty they begin to 
look thin, and are much subject to plurisies and palsies. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 227. 
Of late, trouble of another kind has been added. Tina 
is a little turned of fifteen ; she is going to be very beau- 
tiful. H. B. Stom, Oldtown, p. 406. 
To turn a cat-in-pan. See cati. To turn adrift. 
See adrift. To turn against, (a) To use to the disad- 
vantage or injury of : as, his argument was turned ayainxt 
himself; they turned their arms against their friends. (&) 
To render unfriendly or opposed to : as, his old comrade 
was turned against him by false reports. To turn an 
enemy's flank line, or position, to maneuver so as to 
pass round his forces and attack him from the rear or on 
the flank; hence, to turn one's flank, in a figurative 
sense, to circumvent or outwit one. 
Tom felt at once that his flank was turned. 
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, ii. 6. 
A number of attempts were made by the enemy to turn 
our right flank, where Sherman was posted, but every ef- 
fort was repulsed with heavy loss. 
U. S. Grant, Personal Memoirs, I. 339. 
To turn a penny. See penny. To turn aside, to turn 
to one side ; ward off ; avert : as, to turn aside a blow or 
a thrust. To turn away, (a) To turn in an opposite 
or different direction ; avert. 
She turn* away the face. Shak., Lncrece, 1. 1711. 
(6) To turn aside ; avert. 
We pray to God to turn away some evil from us. 
Whole Duty of Man. 
(c) To dismiss from service; discharge; discard. 
I must turn away some of my followers. 
Shak., M. W. of W., i. 3. 4. 
The Master of the House may turn away all his Servants, 
and take whom he please. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 63. 
To turn back, (a) To cause to return or retrace one's 
footsteps : as, I was turned back by stress of weather. (fit) 
To send back ; return. 
We turn not back the silks upon the merchant 
When we have soil'd them. Shak. , T. and C., ii. 2. 69. 
To turn down, (a) To fold or double down. 
Is not the leaf turn'd dmmt Shak., 3. C., iv. 3. 273. 
(b) To lower by turning a stop-cock or the like : as, to 
turn down the gas. (e) To snub; suppress. [Slang, XI. S.] 
To turn flukes. See fluke i . To turn forth , to drive 
or cast out ; expel. 
Turn melancholy forth to funerals. 
Shak., M. N. D.,L 1. 14. 
To turn head I . to turn round ; face about. 
Turn head, and stop pursuit. Sfiak., Hen. V., ii. 4. 69. 
To turn In. (a) To fold or double in. 
Thus a wise tailor is not pinching, 
But turns at every seam an inch in. 
Hudibras. (Imp. Diet.) 
(b) To turn inward : said especially of the toes. 
I gives 'em the hornpipe and the bandy jig, that's dan- 
cing with my toes turned in. 
Mayhem, London Labour and London Poor, III. 200. 
(c) To hand over or deliver : as, to turn in the unexpended 
balance. To turn in a deadeye or block, to fasten the 
shroud or strap round the deadeye or block. To turn 
Off. (a) To dismiss or put away summarily ; discard ; dis- 
charge. 
He turned off his former wife to make room for this 
marriage. Addison. 
Servants sent on messages are apt to stay out somewhat 
longer than the message requires. . . When you return, 
the master storms, the lady scolds ; stripping, cudgelling, 
and turning o/Tis the word. 
Swift, Advice to Servants (General Directions), 
(it) To give over; consign. 
The murmurer is turned off to the company of those 
doleful creatures that Inhabit the ruins of Babylon. 
Government of the Tongue. 
(c) To turn aside ; divert. 
The institution of sports and shows was intended, by 
all governments, to turn of the thoughts of the people 
from busying themselves in matters of state. 
Addison, Freeholder, No. 34. 
(d) To perform ; accomplish; complete. 
Whatever he may say of its quality, the German official 
or man of business is always appalled at the quantity of 
work his compeer here can turn off in a given time. 
O. S. Hall, German Culture, p. 306. 
(e) To shut off, as a fluid, by means of a stop-cock, valve, 
etc., so as to prevent its operation or effect ; stop or with- 
draw the effective supply of : as, to turn off the gas the 
water, or the steam. (f) To hang, as a criminal ; hence, 
with humorous allusion to the "noose," to put through 
the marriage ceremony ; marry. [Slang.] 
Some minutes after he was turned off, a Reprieve came 
for him, and being immediately cut down, he soon reviv'd 
to the admiration of all Spectators. 
The Flying Post, Dec. 11, 1705, quoted in Ashton's Social 
[Life in Reign of Queen Anne, II. 215. 
I saw them turned off at igsackly a quarter past 12. 
Thackeray, Yellowplush Papers, Mr. Deuceace at Paris, ix. 
to) To give a different turn or direction to, or a different 
meaning or effect to ; turn aside : as, to turn off a joke. 
To turn on, to open a passage to, or admit, as a fluid by 
means of a stop-cock or valve, so as to bring into actua'l 
operation or use ; bring into play the effective supply of 
as, to turn on the gas, steam, or water. To turn one's 
coat, to change sides ; go over to another party, sect, or 
the like ; become a pervert. Compare turncoat. 
turn 
They blackguarded him like good 'uns said he only 
wanted to get into the House to finger the salary and then 
turn his coat. GrenvUlr -Murray, "Member for Paris, xx. 
Mr. Bright should be the last man to charge a political 
opponent with turning hit coal. 
Westminster Rev., CXXVIII. 526. 
To turn one's hand, to apply or adapt one's self. 
A good Servant sliou'd turn his Hand to every thing in 
a Family. Steele, Tender Husband, ii. 1. 
To all things could he turn his hand. 
Tennyson, Enoch Arden. 
To turn one's head or brain, (a) To make one giddy 
or dizzy, as by looking down from a great height. (6) To 
infect one with extravagant notions, as of pride or conceit ; 
as, the attentions shown him quite turned his head. 
For the benefit of such whose heads are a little turned, 
... I shall assign one of the sides of the college which 
I am erecting for the cure of this dangerous distemper 
[pride]. Steele, Taller, No. 127. 
The spirit of public fanaticism turned their heads. 
Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 2. 
The rush of invitations, mid the struggle for his society, 
. . . would have been quite enough to turn ant/ head less 
strong than his. Lady Holland, Sydney Smith, viii. 
To turn out. (a) To put out ; drive out ; expel : as, the 
unruly persons were turned out. 
The triumphant party are not at all in the humour to be 
turned out every time his lordship has drunk a bottle too 
much. Walpole, Letters, II. g. 
(b) To put out to pasture, as cattle or horses, (c) To pro- 
duce as the result of labor, or training, or any process of 
manufacture; furnish in a complete state; send out fin- 
ished : as, this factory turns out 1,000 pieces of cloth in a 
week. 
One thing is very certain that the [public] schools 
turned out splendid scholars, and" their powers of writing 
Latin and Greek verse were wonderful. 
W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 165. 
(d) To turn inside out ; reverse ; hence, to bring to view ; 
show ; produce : as, to turn out one's pockets ; turn out 
your cards. To turn over, (a) To change the position 
of the top, bottom, or sides of; overturn : as, to turn over 
a box ; the seats were turned over in the struggle. (6) To 
hand over ; deliver ; transfer ; refer : as, the business was 
turned over to his creditors. 
If he [the footman] be not for your Turn, turn him over 
to me again when I come back. Howell, Letters, I. v. 13. 
'Tis well the debt no payment does demand ; 
You turn me over to another hand. 
Dryden, Aurengzebe, iv. 1. 
(c) To do business, or sell goods, to the amount of : as, he 
turns over about *1000 a week, (d) To open and turn the 
leaves of for the purpose of examining. 
Some conceive they have no more to do than to turn 
over a concordance. Sutyt. 
(et) To turn off; hang. [Slang.] 
Criminals, condemned to suffer, 
Are blinded first, and then turned over. 
S. Butter, Hudibras, III. ii. 698. 
To turn over a new leaf. See leaf. To turn tall. 
See tain. To turn the back, to turn away; hence, to 
leave a place or company ; go off ; run away. 
Make mouths upon me when I turn my back. 
Shak., M. N. D., iii. 2. 238. 
Sam. Quarrel, I will back thee. 
Ore. How! turn thy back and run? 
Shak., R. and J., i. 1. 41. 
To turn the back on or upon one. See fcocti. To 
turn the buckle of the belt behind. See buckle?. 
To turn the cat In the pan. (at) To reverse the order 
of things so as to make them appear the opposite of what 
they really are. N. E. D., under cat. 
There is a cunning which we in England call "the turn- 
ing of the cat in the pan" : which is when that which a 
man says to another he lays it as if another had said it to 
him. Bacon, Cunning (ed. 1887). 
(6) See to turn a cat-in-pan, under catl. To turn the 
cold shoulder, see cold. TO turn the die or the 
dice, to change the luck. 
Fortune confounds the wise, 
And, when they least expect it, turns the dice. 
Dryden. 
To turn the edge Of, to deprive of sharpness or keen- 
ness; blunt. 
This news, I think, hath turn'd your weapon's edge 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., ii. 1. 179. 
To turn the paunch, to vomit ; disgorge, as fish. [New 
Eng.] To turn the scale, to make one side of the bal- 
ance fall; hence, figuratively, to give superiority or suc- 
cess ; decide ; determine. 
You weigh equally ; a feather will turn the scale. 
Shak., M. for M., iv. 2. 32. 
If I survive, shall Troy the less prevail? 
A single soul 's too light to turn the scale. Dryden. 
TO turn the stomach Of, to cause nausea or disgust in ; 
make qualmish or disgusted. 
They [Tonquinese] have many sorts of dishes, that wou'd 
turn the Stomach o/a stranger, which yet they themselves 
like very well. Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 30. 
This filthy simile, this beastly line, 
Quite turns my stomach. 
Pope, Epil. to Satires, ii. 182. 
To turn the tables. See table. To turn tippet t. See 
tippet. To turn to the right-about. See rightabout. 
To turn turtle. See turtle?. To turn up. (a) To 
bring to the surface ; bring from below to the top ; turn 
over : as, to turn up the sod or the soil. 
Yellow " bobs " turned up before the plough 
Are cliiefcst baits ; with cork and lead enough. 
J. Dennys (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 176). 
