take a turn

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

take a turn (third-person singular simple present takes a turn, present participle taking a turn, simple past took a turn, past participle taken a turn)

1. (idiomatic) Change in direction, tone, or tendency.
   • 1819, Hosea Ballou (the Elder.), A Sermon, delivered in the Second Universalist Meeting House:

     In like manner do false teachers commence their discourses, by taking care to avoid a strait line of simple truthl they run a little waya, pretending that the divine Being is all love and grace to mankind, is the same yesterday, to-day and forever, that the most entire confidence may be safely placed in his wisdom, power, and goodness; but immediately they take a turn and represent him as capable of having his mind so changed, as to burn with implacable vengeance toward those who do not conform to their doctrine.

   • 1895, Beatrice Harraden, Things Will Take a Turn: A Story for Children, pages 17–18:

     He said to me: 'Look you, Rosebud child, things will take a turn.'

   • 2017 July 16, Brandon Nowalk, “Chickens and dragons come home to roost on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[1]:

     Plucky old Walder Frey gathers his family for a feast and toasts to their massacre of the Stark family. He compliments their bravery in stabbing a pregnant woman and her fetus to death. As every last Frey man swigs their special wine, Walder hypes the cunning it took to invite guests into your home and ambush them. But then things take a turn, the men starting to keel over as Walder seems to admonish them for leaving certain threads hanging. At last the room is empty but for Arya Stark, holding Walder Frey’s face, and a couple girls she leaves alive to spread the legend. “Winter came for House Frey.”

2. To walk around; to stroll.
   • 1798, August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue, The Stranger: a comedy:

     I must take a turn in the open air to recover myself.

   • 2001, Charles R. Swindoll, The Mystery of God's Will, →ISBN:

     I used to take a turn up and down among the sins of my past life, and I always came down again with a broken and a contrite heart, ready to preach, as it was preached in the beginning, the forgiveness of sins.

   • 2012, Umberto Eco, The Name Of The Rose, →ISBN, page 206:

     Let's go and take a turn around the Aedificium, while we still have a bit of light.

   • 2013, John Gay, Hal Gladfelder, The Beggar's Opera and Polly, →ISBN:

     Take a turn in the hall with my maid for a minute or two, and I'll take care to settle all matters and conditions for your reception.

3. To participate in an activity involving two or more participants.
   • 1980, Mary Ritchie Key, The Relationship of Verbal and Nonverbal Communication, →ISBN, page 295:

     At each of these decision-making points, participants may choose not to take a turn.

   • 2005, Hanneke Bot, Dialogue Interpreting in Mental Health, →ISBN, page 120:

     There are many opportunities, in the form of pauses and gaps, for the therapist to take a turn.

   • 2008, Sandra Bochner, Jane Jones, Child Language Development: Learning to Talk, page 67:

     If not, provide some practice: model the task again and encourage the child to take a turn in the game.

   • 2009, Hiromitsu Hattori, Takahiro Kawamura, Tsuyoshi Ide, New Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, →ISBN:

     In addition, Enomoto & Den[2] argue that which hearer should take a turn at which point depends upon the hearer's status in a storytelling sequence.

Derived terms

• take a turn for the worse
• take a turn for the better