1. The act of turning; movement or motion about, or as if about, a center or axis; revolution; as, the turn of a wheel.
2. Change of direction, course, or tendency; different order, position, or aspect of affairs; alteration; vicissitude; as, the turn of the tide. At length his complaint took a favorable turn. Macaulay. The turns and varieties of all passions. Hooker. Too well the turns of mortal chance I know. Pope.
3. One of the successive portions of a course, or of a series of occurrences, reckoning from change to change; hence, a winding; a bend; a meander. And all its [the river's] thousand turns disclose. Some fresher beauty varying round. Byron.
4. A circuitous walk, or a walk to and fro, ending where it began; a
short walk; a stroll.
Come, you and I must walk a turn together. Shak.
I will take a turn in your garden. Dryden.
5. Successive course; opportunity enjoyed by alternation with another or with others, or in due order; due chance; alternate or incidental occasion; appropriate time. "Nobleness and bounty . . . had their turns in his [the king's] nature." His turn will come to laugh at you again. Denham . Every one has a fair turn to be as great as he pleases. Collier.
6. Incidental or opportune deed or office; occasional act of kindness or malice; as, to do one an ill turn. Had I not done a friendes turn to thee Chaucer. thanks are half lost when good turns are delayed. Fairfax.
7. Convenience; occasion; purpose; exigence; as, this will not serve his turn. I have enough to serve mine own turn. Shak.
8. Form; cast; shape; manner; fashion; — used in a literal or figurative sense; hence, form of expression; mode of signifying; as, the turn of thought; a man of a sprightly turn in conversation. The turn of both his expressions and thoughts is unharmonious. Dryden. The Roman poets, in their description of a beautiful man, often mention the turn of his neck and arms. Addison.
9. A change of condition; especially, a sudden or recurring symptom of illness, as a nervous shock, or fainting spell; as, a bad turn. [Colloq.]
10. A fall off the ladder at the gallows; a hanging; — so called from the practice of causing the criminal to stand on a ladder which was turned over, so throwing him off, when the signal was given. [Obs.]