Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TURN'ER, n.

One whose occupation is to form things with a lathe; one who turns.

TURN'ER-ITE, n.

A rare mineral occurring in small crystals of a yellowish brown color, externally brilliant and translucent. Phillips.

TURN'ER-Y, n.

1. The art of forming into a cylindrical shape by the lathe.
2. Things made by a turner or in the lathe.

TURN'ING, n.

1. A winding; a bending course; flexure; meander.
2. Deviation from the way or proper course.

TURN'ING, ppr.

Moving in a circle; changing; winding.

TURN'ING-NESS, n.

Quality of turning; tergiversation. [Not in use.] Sidney.

TURN'ING-POINT, n.

The point which decides a case.

TURN'KEY, n.

A person who has charge of the keys of a prison for opening and fastening the doors.

TURN'OUT, n. [turn and out.]

The place in a railway where cars turn out of the way. Applied also to an equipage.

TURN'PIKE, n. [turn and pike.]

1. Strictly, a frame consisting of two bars crossing each other at right angles, and turning on a post or pin, to hinder the passage of beasts, but admitting a person to pass between the arms.
2. A gate set across a road to stop travelers and carriages till toll is paid for keeping the road in repair.
3. A turnpike road.
4. In military affairs, a beam filled with spikes to obstruct passage. Cyc.

TURN'PIKE, v.t.

To form, as a road, in the manner of a turnpike road; to throw the path of a road into a rounded form. Med. Repos.

TURN'PIK-ED, pp.

Formed in the manner of a turnpike road.

TURN'PIKE-ROAD, n.

A road on which turnpikes or tollgates are established by law, and which are made and kept in repair by the toll collected from travelers or passengers who use the road.

TURN'SERV-ING, n. [tarn and serve.]

The act or practice of serving one's turn or promoting private interest. Bacon.

TURN'SICK, a. [turn and sick.]

Giddy. Bacon.

TURN'SOLE, n. [turn and L. sol, the sun.]

A plant of the genus Heliotropium, so named because its flower is supposed to turn toward the sun.

TURN'SPIT, n. [turn and spit.]

1. A person who turns a spit. His lordship is his majesty's turnspit. Burke.
2. A variety of the dog, so called from turning the spit.

TURN'STILE, n. [turn and stile.]

A turnpike in a footpath. Guy.

TURN'STONE, n. [turn and stone.]

A bird, called the sea-dotterel, the Tringa morinella, a little larger than an English blackbird. This bird takes its name from its practice of turning up small stones in search of insects. Cyc.

TUR'PEN-TINE, n. [L. terebinthina; Sp. and It. trementina; G. terpentin. I know not the origin of this word; the first syllable may coincide with the root of tar.]

An oleo-resinous substance, flowing naturally or by incision from several species of trees, as from the pine, larch, fir, pistacia, &c. Common turpentine is of about the consistence of honey; but there are several varieties. Cyc.

TUR'PEN-TINE-TREE, n.

A tree of the genus Pistacia, which yields turpentine, and produces not only its proper fruit, but a kind of horny substance which grows on the surfuce of its leaves. This is an excrescence, the effect of the puncture of an insect, and is produced in the some manner us the gulls of other plants. Cyc.

TUR'PETH, n. [L. turpetum; Gr. τουρπετ.]

The name of the root of Convolvulus torpetum, a plant of Ceylon, Malabar and New Holland, which has a cathartic power. It is sometimes called vegetable turpeth, to distinguish it from mineral turpeth.

TUR'PETH-MINER-AL, n.

A name applied to the diprotosulphate of mercury, a salt composed of two equivalents of the protoxyd of mercury, and one equivalent of sulphuric acid. It is a good emetic.

TURP'I-TUDE, n. [Fr. from L. turpitudo, from turpis, foul, base.]

1. Inherent baseness or vileness of principle in the human heart; extreme depravity.
2. Baseness or vileness of words or actions; shameful wickedness. South.

TUR'REL, n.

A tool used by coopers. Sherwood.