Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TURN, n.

1. The act of turning; movement or motion in a circular direction; whether horizontally, vertically or otherwise; a revolution; as, the turn of a wheel.
2. A winding; a meandering course; a bend or bending; as, the turn of a river. Addison.
3. A walk to and fro. I will take a turn in your garden. Dryden.
4. Change; alteration; vicissitude; as, the turns and varieties of passions. Hooker. Too well the turns of mortal chance I know. Pope.
5. Successive course. Nobleness and bounty – which virtues laid their tarns in the king's nature. Bacon.
6. Manner of proceeding; change of direction. This affair may take a different turn from that which we expect.
7. Chance; hap; opportunity. Every one has a fair turn to be as great as he pleases. Collier.
8. Occasion; incidental opportunity. An old dog falling from his speed, was loaded at every turn with blows and reproaches. L'Estrange.
9. Time at which, by successive vicissitudes, any thing is to be had or done. They take each other's turn. His turn will come to laugh at you again. Denham.
10. Action of kindness or malice. Thanks are half lost when good turns are delay'd. Fairfax. Some malicious natures place their delight in doing ill turns. L'Estrange.
11. Reigning inclination or course. Religion is not to be adapted to the turn and fashion of the age.
12. A step off the ladder at the gallows. Butler.
13. Convenience; occasion; purpose; exigence; as, this will not serve his turn. Clarendon. Temple.
14. Form; cast; shape; manner; in a literal or figurative sense; as, the turn of thought; a man of a sprightly turn in conversation. The turn of his thoughts and expression is unharmonious. Dryden. Female virtues are of a domestic turn. Addison. The Roman poets, in their description of a beautiful man, often mention the turn of his neck and arms. Addison.
15. Manner of arranging words in a sentence.
16. Change; new disposition of things. Some evil happens at every turn of affairs.
17. Change of direction; as, the turn of the tide from flood to ebb.
18. One round of a rope or cord.
19. In mining, a pit sunk in some part of a drift. Cyc.
20. Turn or tourn, in law. The sherif's turn is a court of record, held by the sherif twice a year in every hundred within his county. [England.] By turns, one after another; alternately. They assist each other by turns. #2. At intervals. They feel by turns the bitter change. Milton. To take turns, to take each other's place alternately.