turn tail

To turn round (and run off)

twist the lion's tail

To irritate Britain

with one's tail up

Perky, in good humour

with the tail between the legs

In a state of dejection after chastisement or humiliation, like a beaten cur

turn /tûrn/

intransitive verb

1. To revolve
2. To rotate, to spin, whirl
3. To move round
4. To hinge
5. To depend
6. To issue
7. To change or reverse direction or tendency
8. To return
9. To deviate
10. To direct oneself, face (with to or towards)
11. To shape one's course
12. To take oneself
13. To direct one's attention
14. To change sides, religion or mode of life
15. To be fickle
16. To change
17. To be transformed or converted (often with into)
18. To become
19. To result, prove or lead in the issue
20. To be shaped on the lathe
21. To become sour
22. To change colour
23. To become giddy
24. To be nauseated
25. To bend back, become turned
26. To tack, beat to windward (nautical)

transitive verb

1. To rotate
2. To move round
3. To change the direction of
4. To deflect
5. To bend
6. To bend back the edge of
7. To reverse
8. To pass round or beyond
9. To perform by turning
10. To wind
11. To set outside-in, or remake in that form
12. To set upside down
13. To direct
14. To point
15. To apply
16. To send, drive, set
17. To pour or tumble out
18. To employ in circulation, pass through one's hands
19. To translate
20. To change
21. To make (milk, cream, etc) sour
22. To nauseate
23. To make giddy
24. To infatuate
25. To transfer, hand over
26. To convert, make
27. To make the subject of (with to or into)
28. To render
29. To put by turning
30. To return, give back
31. To form in a lathe
32. To shape
33. To round off, fashion
34. To pass, become (a certain age, hour, etc)
35. To cause or persuade (an enemy agent) to work for one's own side

noun

1. Act, occasion or place of turning
2. New direction or tendency
3. A twist
4. A winding
5. A complete revolution
6. A bend
7. A single traversing of a beat or course
8. A short walk (or ride or drive)
9. A fit of illness or emotion, esp an emotional shock, jar or feeling of faintness
10. An embellishment in which the principal note is preceded by that next above and followed by that next below (or vice versa in the inverted turn), the whole ending (and sometimes beginning) with the principal note (music)
11. Turning point
12. A culmination
13. A time or moment of change
14. The halfway point on an eighteen-hole golf course, at which the players turn to begin the return nine holes
15. A crisis
16. A spell
17. A recurring opportunity or spell in rotation or alternation
18. Rotation
19. A trick
20. A performer's act or the performer
21. A shift
22. A bout
23. Fashion
24. Manner
25. Cast of mind
26. Aptitude
27. Bent
28. Occasion, exigency
29. A vicissitude
30. A characteristic quality or effect
31. Act of kindness or malice
32. An inverted type serving for a temporarily missing letter
33. A complete financial transaction, covering the buying and selling of a commodity, etc
34. The difference between the bid and offer price of shares (stock exchange)
35. (also turn card) the fourth community card dealt in some forms of poker

turned adjective

1. Fashioned
2. Wrought in a lathe
3. Beyond the age (now usu without of)
4. Reversed
5. Outside-in
6. (esp of printing type) upside down
7. Soured

turnˈer noun

1. Someone or something that turns
2. A person who uses a lathe
3. A member of a gymnastic club (US, from German)

turnˈery noun

1. The art of turning in a lathe
2. Turner's work
3. A turner's shop

turnˈing noun

1. Rotation
2. Reversal
3. A bend
4. The act of making a turn
5. A winding
6. Deviation
7. A place where a road strikes off
8. A shaping, esp the art of shaping wood, metal, etc, into forms having a curved (generally circular or oval) transverse section, and also of engraving figures composed of curved lines upon a smooth surface, by means of a turning lathe
9. (in pl) the shavings from the lathe
10. In pottery, the shaping of a vase, etc
11. Conversion, transformation

turnˈabout or turnˈaround noun

1. A turning to face the opposite direction
2. A reversal in opinion, policy, course of action, etc

turnˈagain noun (archaic)

A refrain

turnaround see turnabout above and turnround below.

turnˈback noun

1. A folded-back part
2. A person who retreats from or abandons an enterprise

turnˈ-back adjective

(able to be) folded back

turnˈbroach noun

A turnspit

turnˈbuckle noun

A coupling with screw-threads for adjusting tension

turnˈcoat noun

A renegade to one's principles or party

turnˈcock noun

1. A valve which by turning regulates waterflow
2. An official who turns off and on the water for the mains, etc

turnˈ-down adjective

Folded down

noun

1. A turn-down part
2. A turn-down collar
3. A turning down, rejection

turn-in see turn in below.

turning circle noun

The smallest possible circle in which a vehicle can turn round

turning lathe noun

turning point noun

1. The point at which anything turns in its course
2. A maximum or minimum point on a graph
3. A critical point

turnˈing-saw noun

A sweep-saw, a thin-bladed saw held taut in a frame, used for cutting in curves

turnˈkey noun

1. An under-jailer
2. A turncock
3. (a contract for) a job in which the contractor is to complete the entire operation, leaving the building, plant, etc ready for use (also adjective)

adjective (computing)

Designed and ready for immediate use by the purchaser, as in turnkey system or package (computing) a computer system complete with hardware and software, usu designed, installed, tested and maintained by the supplier and ready for immediate use by the purchaser

turnˈoff or turnˈ-off noun

1. A smaller road leading from a main one
2. See also turn off below

turn-on see turn on below.

turnˈout noun

1. A muster or assembly
2. The number of people attending a meeting or voting in an election
3. A coming on duty
4. A call to come on duty
5. A getting out of bed
6. A place in a road where a vehicle can be turned round (N American)
7. A siding, passing place, or turning place (archaic)
8. A movable tapered rail for changing to another track
9. A carriage and its horses, a team
10. Output
11. Get-up, outfit (of clothes)
12. A display (of goods, equipment, etc)
13. A strike (archaic)
14. A striker (archaic)

turnˈover noun

1. A turning over
2. A transference
3. A part folded over
4. A newspaper article begun on the front page and continued overleaf
5. A small pie made by folding over the crust
6. A small shawl (archaic)
7. An apprentice transferred to a new employer to complete the apprenticeship (dialect)
8. The total amount of money changing hands in a business
9. The number of employees starting or finishing employment at a particular place of work over a given period
10. The money value of total sales over a period
11. (in sports such as rugby and American football) loss of possession of the ball by a team, due to error or breach of a rule

adjective

Folded over, or made to fold over

turnover tax noun

A tax paid every time goods change hands during manufacture and marketing

turnˈ-penny noun (archaic)

Someone who is eager for profit

turnˈpike noun

1. A spiked barrier (historical)
2. A turnstile (obsolete)
3. A tollgate or road with a tollgate (historical)
4. A motorway on which tolls are paid (US)
5. A spiral stair (also turnpike stair; Scot)

turnpike man noun (historical)

A tollgate keeper

turnpike road noun

1. A road on which there are or were tollgates
2. A main road

turnˈround or turnˈaround noun

1. A turning round
2. The whole process of a ship, aircraft, etc docking or landing, unloading, taking on cargo, passengers or both, and setting off again
3. Generally, the whole process of dealing with something and passing it on to the next stage
4. A complete reversal of direction

turnˈ-screw noun (archaic)

A screwdriver

turnˈskin noun (archaic)

A werewolf

turnˈspit noun

1. A person who turns a spit
2. A long-bodied, short-legged dog employed to drive a wheel by which roasting-spits were turned
3. A spit, roasting jack

turnˈstile noun

A revolving frame that allows one person to pass at a time

turnˈstone noun

A bird (genus Arenaria), related to the plover and sandpiper, that turns over pebbles on the beach in search of food

turnˈtable noun

A rotating table, platform, disc or pair of rings, one rotating within another, used for turning a locomotive, carrying a record on a record player, cementing a microscope slide, turning a camera, etc

turntable ladder noun

A rotatable ladder mounted on a fire engine

turnˈtablist noun

A performer who uses the turntable of a record player to create innovative sounds

turnˈ-up (or /tûrn-upˈ/) noun

1. A disturbance
2. A thing or part that is turned up, esp the cuff at the bottom of a trouser-leg
3. An unexpected or fortuitous result or occurrence
4. A piece of good luck

adjective

Turned up

a good (or bad) turn

A helpful service (or a disservice)

at every turn

1. Everywhere
2. Incessantly

by turns

1. One after another
2. At intervals

in one's turn

When it is one's occasion, opportunity, duty, etc

in turn

One after another, in succession

not turn a hair

To be quite undisturbed or unaffected

on the turn

1. At the turning point, changing
2. On the point of turning sour

serve its or one's turn

1. To answer the purpose
2. To do well enough

speak or talk out of turn

To say something indiscreet or tactless

take a turn

1. To go for a stroll
2. To have a go (informal)

(take) a turn for the better (or worse)

(to make) an improvement (or a deterioration)

take one's turn or take turns

To participate in rotation

to a turn

Exactly, perfectly (as if of the spit)

turn about

1. To face round to the opposite direction
2. To spin, rotate

turn about or turn and turn about

1. Alternately
2. In rotation

turn adrift

1. To unmoor and let float away
2. To cast off

turn again

1. To turn back
2. To revert

turn against

1. To use to the injury of
2. To render hostile to
3. To rebel against

turn an enemy's flank, line or position

1. To manoeuvre so as to attack in the rear
2. To outwit

turn an honest penny see under penny

turn around see turn round below.

turn aside

1. To avert
2. To deviate
3. To avert the face

turn away

1. To dismiss from service, to discharge
2. To avert, to turn or look in another direction
3. To deviate, to depart
4. To refuse admittance to
5. To reject, send away

turn back

1. To cause to retreat
2. To return
3. To fold back

turn colour

To change colour

turn down

1. To bend, double, or fold down
2. To invert
3. To lower (a light, volume on a radio, etc)
4. To reject

turn forth

To expel

turn in

1. To bend inward
2. To enter
3. To register (a score)
4. To surrender, hand over voluntarily (turnˈ-in noun)
5. To go to bed (informal)

turn in on oneself

To become introverted

turn into

To become by a process of change

turn it up or in

Stop (saying) it (imperative; informal)

turn King's or Queen's evidence see under evident

turn loose

To set at liberty

turn of events

Course or direction of events

turn off

1. To deviate
2. To dismiss
3. To divert
4. To complete, achieve by labour
5. To shut or switch off
6. To make (someone) lose interest or enthusiasm, to bore, be disliked by or distasteful to (turnˈ-off noun; slang)
7. To give in marriage (archaic)
8. To hang (obs sl)

turn of speed

A burst of speed

turn of the century or year

The period of the end of one century or year and the beginning of the next

turn on

1. To set running (eg the flow of water)
2. To set in operation by switching on (also figurative)
3. To depend on
4. To turn towards and attack (physically or verbally)
5. To give (a person) a sense of heightened awareness and vitality, as do hallucinogenic drugs (slang)
6. To rouse the interest of, excite, esp sexually (turnˈ-on noun; slang)

turn one's back on

To abandon or reject

turn one's hand to

To apply oneself to

turn out

1. To bend outwards
2. To drive out, to expel
3. To remove the contents of
4. To dress, groom, take care of the appearance of
5. To put (cattle, etc) to pasture
6. To produce and put forth
7. To prove in the result
8. To muster
9. To go on strike
10. To switch off (a light)
11. To get out of bed (informal)
12. To go out of doors (informal)

turn over

1. To roll over
2. To set the other way up
3. To change sides
4. To hand over, pass on
5. To change the function of
6. To handle or do business to the amount of
7. To examine by turning the pages
8. To ponder
9. To rob (slang)
10. To start up (an engine)

turn round or around

1. Of a ship, aircraft, etc, to arrive, unload, reload and leave again
2. To reverse the course or direction of
3. To reverse the fortunes of (figurative)

turn tail see under tail¹

turn someone round one's little finger same as twist someone round one's little finger (see under finger).

turn someone's head or brain

1. To make someone giddy
2. To infatuate with success

turn the other cheek

To accept harm, violence, etc without defending oneself

turn the scale

To decide, determine

turn the stomach

To nauseate

turn the tables see under table

turn to

1. To have recourse to
2. To point to
3. To result in
4. To change or be changed into
5. To set to work

turn turtle see under turtle¹

turn up

1. To point upwards
2. To fold upwards
3. To come or bring to light
4. To arrive or appear (by chance)
5. To set face up
6. To invert
7. To grub up
8. To disturb
9. To strengthen or increase (eg the level of light, radio volume, etc)
10. To refer to, look up
11. To disgust (informal)

turn-up for the book or books

A totally unexpected (usu pleasant) occurrence

turn upon

1. To cast back upon, retort
2. To hinge on