TURN

7 definitions found across Law Mind sources

TURNAuthored
The Law Mind • 1054 words
Definition
TURN has two principal meanings in the legal corpus: 1. TOURN (historical procedural term): In early English law, the Sheriff's Turn (Tourn) was a twice-yearly court of record held by the sheriff within each hundred of a county. It was a form of leet jurisdiction — a police and presentment court — at which freeholders were required to appear and matters of petty criminal concern and local order were addressed. The term "turn" in this sense is an anglicization of the Latin and Norman French forms of "tourn." Burrill directs the reader from TURN to TOURN, confirming the terms were treated as interchangeable in legal usage. 2. TURNPIKE ROAD (collateral usage): In older legal literature, "turn" appears as a root component of "turnpike," referring to the physical barrier (a rotating pike or gate) used to collect tolls on a road maintained by a turnpike trust or similar public authority. Legal sources using "turn" in this sense are invariably referring to toll-road law. ---
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To move about an axis through itself; to change direction or orientation, especially by rotation; to shape symmetrically by rotating against a cutting tool. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To cause to move upon a center or as if upon a center; to give circular motion to; to cause to revolve or to change position so as to present other sides in given directions. The common word "turn" describes physical rotation or change of direction. Neither meaning prepares a researcher for the legal usage. In legal contexts, TURN functions as a proper noun compressed into lower case — referring to the Sheriff's Tourn — or as a morphological root of TURNPIKE, a term carrying specific public-road and easement law. A reader encountering "turn" in an older legal text should immediately test whether the author means a court proceeding, a road-law concept, or the common English word used incidentally. ---
Common Confusion
TURN / TOURN: These are the same institution. Burrill's explicit cross-reference reflects the historical interchangeability of spellings in English legal texts. Researchers should index and search under both forms. Modern secondary sources almost universally prefer TOURN. TURNPIKE ROAD / PRIVATE TOLL ROAD: A persistent confusion in historical sources. A turnpike road is legally a public highway — established by public authority, dedicated to public use, and constituting a public easement — even though tolls are collected and the road may be maintained by a private trust or company. It is not private property in the legal sense. Burrill is explicit on this point, quoting Stephen's Commentaries: "a public easement, and not as private property." ---
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in the Law Mind corpus will encounter TURN in three distinct research contexts, and conflating them will produce noise: First, in historical English common law and early American sources, TURN as TOURN is a court of record with jurisdictional significance. If you are researching the origins of leet jurisdiction, hundred courts, sheriff's authority, or presentment procedure, TOURN is the entry point — but historical texts may spell it TURN without any signal that a court is being discussed. Second, in 19th-century American and English road law, TURN appears almost exclusively as part of TURNPIKE. The legal classification of turnpike roads as public easements — not private property — has significant consequences for takings analysis, regulatory authority, and public rights of passage. Researchers tracing the development of highway law or eminent domain doctrine should note that the public/private distinction for toll roads was actively contested in the period covered by Burrill and Stephen's Commentaries. Third, TURN appears as an ordinary English word throughout the corpus with no legal significance. Context is essential. A deed describing a watercourse that "turns" at a landmark uses the word geometrically, not legally. The scarcity of direct treatment under the headword TURN in historical dictionaries (Burrill defers immediately to TOURN) signals that this entry is a cross-reference node rather than a substantive definition in the classical legal dictionary tradition. ---
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary treats TURN as a redirect entry — its entire content under TURN is a bare cross-reference to TOURN, plus an independent treatment of TURNPIKE ROADS as a distinct legal category. This structural choice reflects the 19th-century view that TURN as a court term had become sufficiently archaic to warrant deferral, while turnpike law remained practically vital. Burrill's substantive note on turnpike roads draws on Stephen's Commentaries (3 Steph. Com. 259) and attributes to Shaw (Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw of Massachusetts) the proposition that a turnpike road is "a public easement, and not as private property." This framing — easement rather than fee — was a live doctrinal question in the mid-19th century as turnpike trusts failed and road maintenance obligations reverted to public authorities. Historical dictionaries generally do not treat TURN as an independent legal term of art. Researchers should treat the headword TURN in older sources as a signal to look laterally — to TOURN for court history, to TURNPIKE for road and toll law. ---
Jurisdictional Note
The Sheriff's Tourn was an English institution with no direct American successor, though its jurisdictional functions were absorbed into county court systems and grand jury presentment practice in early American law. Turnpike law was heavily statutory and varied significantly by state; researchers should locate the relevant enabling legislation for any jurisdiction-specific turnpike question. ---
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia — TURNPIKE ROADS for the development of toll-road law, public easement doctrine, and the legal status of turnpike trusts. See also HIGHWAYS for the broader public-road framework within which turnpike roads are classified. See TOURN (SHERIFF'S) for the historical court proceeding. ---
Related Terms
TOURN — the anglicized and Latin form of the same term; preferred spelling in modern legal history TURNPIKE — the road-law concept; see also TOLL ROAD HIGHWAY — parent category; turnpike roads are a subtype LEET — jurisdictional parallel; the court leet and the sheriff's tourn operated in overlapping domains HUNDRED — administrative unit over which the sheriff's tourn had jurisdiction EASEMENT — the property-law classification of a public roadincluding turnpikes SHERIFF — officer who presided over the tourn PUBLIC ROAD — modern successor concept to both turnpike and common highway classifications
TURNmain
Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1870
See Tourn. TURNPIKE ROADS are distinguished from highways in general, by the manner in which the expense attending their maintenance is defrayed, viz. by tolls collected from passengers. 3 Steph. Com. 259. A turnpike road, however, is regarded, in law, as a public highway, established by public authority for public use, and is to be regarded as a public easement, and not as private property. Shaw, C. J. 16 Pick. R. 177.
TURNv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To cause to move upon a center, or as if upon a center; to give circular motion to; to cause to revolve; to cause to move round, either partially, wholly, or repeatedly; to make to change position so as to present other sides in given directions; to make to face otherwise; as, to turn a wheel or a spindle; to turn the body or the head. Turn the adamantine spindle round. Milton. The monarch turns him to his royal guest. Pope. To cause to present a different side uppermost or outmost; to make the upper side the lower, or the inside to be the outside of; to reverse the position of; as, to turn a box or a board; to turn a coat. To give another direction, tendency, or inclination to; to direct otherwise; to deflect; to incline differently; -- used both literally and figuratively; as, to turn the eyes to the heavens; to turn a horse from the road, or a ship from her course; to turn the attention to or from something. "Expert when to advance, or stand, or, turn the sway of battle." Milton. Thrice I deluded her, and turned to sport Her importunity. Milton. My thoughts are turned on peace. Addison. To change from a given use or office; to divert, as to another purpose or end; to transfer; to use or employ; to apply; to devote. Therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David. 1 Chron. x. 14. God will make these evils the occasion of a greater good, by turning them to advantage in this world. Tillotson. When the passage is open, land will be turned most to cattle; when shut, to sheep. Sir W. Temple. To change the form, quality, aspect, or effect of; to alter; to metamorphose; to convert; to transform; -- often with to or into before the word denoting the effect or product of the change; as, to turn a worm into a winged insect; to turn green to blue; to turn prose into verse; to turn a Whig to a Tory, or a Hindoo to a Christian; to turn good to evil, and the like. The Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee. Deut. xxx. 3. And David said, O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. 2 Sam. xv. 31. Impatience turns an ague into a fever. Jer. Taylor. To form in a lathe; to shape or fashion (anything) by applying a cutting tool to it while revolving; as, to turn the legs of stools or tables; to turn ivory or metal. I had rather hear a brazen canstick turned. Shak. Hence, to give form to; to shape; to mold; to put in proper condition; to adapt. "The poet's pen turns them to shapes." Shak. His limbs how turned, how broad his shoulders spread ! Pope. He was perfectly well turned for trade. Addison. Specifically: -- To translate; to construe; as, to turn the Iliad. Who turns a Persian tale for half a crown. Pope. To make acid or sour; to ferment; to curdle, etc.: as, to turn cider or wine; electricity turns milk quickly. To sicken; to nauseate; as, an emetic turns one's stomach. To be turned of, be advanced beyond; as, to be turned of sixty-six. -- To turn a cold shoulder to, to treat with neglect or indifference. -- To turn a corner, to go round a corner. -- To turn adrift, to cast off, to cease to care for. -- To turn a flange (Mech.), to form a flange on, as around a metal sheet or boiler plate, by stretching, bending, and hammering, or rolling the metal. -- To turn against. (a) To direct against; as, to turn one's arguments against himself. (b) To make unfavorable or hostile to; as, to turn one's friends against him. -- To turn a hostile army, To turn the enemy's flank, or the like (Mil.), to pass round it, and take a position behind it or upon its side. -- To turn a penny, or To turn an honest penny, to make a small profit by trade, or the like. -- To turn around one's finger, to have complete control of the will and actions of; to be able to influence at pleasure. -- To turn aside, to avert. -- To turn away. (a) To dismiss from service; to discard; as, to turn away a servant. (b) To avert; as, to turn away wrath or evil. -- To turn back. (a) To give back; to return. We turn not back the silks upon the merchants, When we have soiled them. Shak. To cause to return or retrace one's steps; hence, to drive away; to repel. Shak. -- To turn down. (a) To fold or double down. (b) To turn over so as to conceal the face of; as, to turn down cards. (c) To lower, or reduce in size, by turning a valve, stopcock, or the like; as, turn down the lights. -- To turn in. (a) To fold or double under; as, to turn in the edge of cloth. (b) To direct inwards; as, to turn the toes in when walking. (c) To contribute; to deliver up; as, he turned in a large amount. [Colloq.] -- To turn in the mind, to revolve, ponder, or meditate upon; -- with about, over, etc. " Turn these ideas about in your mind." I. Watts. -- To turn off. (a) To dismiss contemptuously; as, to turn off a sycophant or a parasite. (b) To give over; to reduce. (c) To divert; to deflect; as, to turn off the thoughts from serious subjects; to turn off a joke. (d) To accomplish; to perform, as work. (e) (Mech.) To remove, as a surface, by the process of turning; to reduce in size by turning. (f) To shut off, as a fluid, by means of a valve, stopcock, or other device; to stop the passage of; as, to turn off the water or the gas. -- To turn on, to cause to flow by turning a valve, stopcock, or the like; to give passage to; as, to turn on steam. -- To turn one's coat, to change one's uniform or colors; to go over to the opposite party. -- To turn one's goods or money, and the like, to exchange in the course of trade; to keep in lively exchange or circulation; to gain or increase in trade. -- To turn one's hand to, to adapt or apply one's self to; to engage in. -- To turn out. (a) To drive out; to expel; as, to turn a family out of doors; to turn a man out of office. I'll turn you out of my kingdom. Shak. to put to pasture, as cattle or horses. (c) To produce, as the result of labor, or any process of manufacture; to furnish in a completed state. (d) To reverse, as a pocket, bag, etc., so as to bring the inside to the outside; hence, to produce. (e) To cause to cease, or to put out, by turning a stopcock, valve, or the like; as, to turn out the lights. -- To turn over. (a) To change or reverse the position of; to overset; to overturn; to cause to roll over. (b) To transfer; as, to turn over business to another hand. (c) To read or examine, as a book, while, turning the leaves. "We turned o'er many books together." Shak. (d) To handle in business; to do business to the amount of; as, he turns over millions a year. [Colloq.] -- To turn over a new leaf. See under Leaf. -- To turn tail, to run away; to retreat ignominiously. -- To turn the back, to flee; to retreat. -- To turn the back on or upon, to treat with contempt; to reject or refuse unceremoniously. -- To turn the corner, to pass the critical stage; to get by the worst point; hence, to begin to improve, or to succeed. -- To turn the die or dice, to change fortune. -- To turn the edge or point of, to bend over the edge or point of so as to make dull; to blunt. -- To turn the head or brain of, to make giddy, wild, insane, or the like; to infatuate; to overthrow the reason or judgment of; as, a little success turned his head. -- To turn the scale or balance, to change the preponderance; to decide or determine something doubtful. -- To turn the stomach of, to nauseate; to sicken. -- To turn the tables, to reverse the chances or conditions of success or superiority; to give the advantage to the person or side previously at a disadvantage. -- To turn tippet, to make a change. [Obs.] B. Jonson. -- To turn to profit, advantage, etc., to make profitable or advantageous. -- To turn up. (a) To turn so as to bring the bottom side on top; as, to turn up the trump. (b) To bring from beneath to the surface, as in plowing, digging, etc. (c) To give an upward curve to; to tilt; as, to turn up the nose. -- To turn upon, to retort; to throw back; as, to turn the arguments of an opponent upon himself. -- To turn upside down, to confuse by putting things awry; to throw into disorder. This house is turned upside down since Robin Ostler died. Shak.
TURNv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To move round; to have a circular motion; to revolve entirely, repeatedly, or partially; to change position, so as to face differently; to whirl or wheel round; as, a wheel turns on its axis; a spindle turns on a pivot; a man turns on his heel. The gate . . . on golden hinges turning. Milton. Hence, to revolve as if upon a point of support; to hinge; to depend; as, the decision turns on a single fact. Conditions of peace certainly turn upon events of war. Swift. To result or terminate; to come about; to eventuate; to issue. If we repent seriously, submit contentedly, and serve him faithfully, afflictions shall turn to our advantage. Wake. To be deflected; to take a different direction or tendency; to be directed otherwise; to be differently applied; to be transferred; as, to turn from the road. Turn from thy fierce wrath. Ex. xxxii. 12. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways. Ezek. xxxiii. 11. The understanding turns inward on itself, and reflects on its own operations. Locke. To be changed, altered, or transformed; to become transmuted; also, to become by a change or changes; to grow; as, wood turns to stone; water turns to ice; one color turns to another; to turn Mohammedan. I hope you have no intent to turn husband. Shak. Cygnets from gray turn white. Bacon. To undergo the process of turning on a lathe; as, ivory turns well. Specifically: -- To become acid; to sour; -- said of milk, ale, etc. To become giddy; -- said of the head or brain. I'll look no more; Lest my brain turn. Shak. To be nauseated; -- said of the stomach. To become inclined in the other direction; -- said of scales. To change from ebb to flow, or from flow to ebb; -- said of the tide. To invert a type of the same thickness, as temporary substitute for any sort which is exhausted. To turn about, to face to another quarter; to turn around. -- To turn again, to come back after going; to return. Shak. -- To turn against, to become unfriendly or hostile to. -- To turn aside or away. (a) To turn from the direct course; to withdraw from a company; to deviate. (b) To depart; to remove. (c) To avert one's face. -- To turn back, to turn so as to go in an opposite direction; to retrace one's steps. -- To turn in. (a) To bend inward. (b) To enter for lodgings or entertainment. (c) To go to bed. [Colloq.] -- To turn into, to enter by making a turn; as, to turn into a side street. -- To turn off, to be diverted; to deviate from a course; as, the road turns off to the left. -- To turn on or upon. (a) To turn against; to confront in hostility or anger. (b) To reply to or retort. (c) To depend on; as, the result turns on one condition. -- To turn out. (a) To move from its place, as a bone. (b) To bend or point outward; as, his toes turn out. (c) To rise from bed. [Colloq.] (d) To come abroad; to appear; as, not many turned out to the fire. (e) To prove in the result; to issue; to result; as, the cropsturned out poorly. -- To turn over, to turn from side to side; to roll; to tumble. -- To turn round. (a) To change position so as to face in another direction. (b) To change one's opinion; to change from one view or party to another. -- To turn to, to apply one's self to; have recourse to; to refer to. "Helvicus's tables may be turned to on all occasions." Locke. -- To turn to account, profit, advantage, or the like, to be made profitable or advantageous; to become worth the while. -- To turn under, to bend, or be folded, downward or under. -- To turn up. (a) To bend, or be doubled, upward. (b) To appear; to come to light; to transpire; to occur; to happen.
TURNn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
The act of turning; movement or motion about, or as if about, a center or axis; revolution; as, the turn of a wheel. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Convenience; occasion; purpose; exigence; as, this will not serve his turn. I have enough to serve mine own turn. Shak. 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. A change of condition; especially, a sudden or recurring symptom of illness, as a nervous shock, or fainting spell; as, a bad turn. [Colloq.] 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.] A round of a rope or cord in order to secure it, as about a pin or a cleat. A pit sunk in some part of a drift. A court of record, held by the sheriff twice a year in every hundred within his county. Blount. Monthly courses; menses. [Colloq.] An embellishment or grace (marked thus, By turns. (a) One after another; alternately; in succession. (b) At intervals. "[They] feel by turns the bitter change." Milton. -- In turn, in due order of succession. -- To a turn, exactly; perfectly; as, done to a turn; -- a phrase alluding to the practice of cooking on a revolving spit. -- To take turns, to alternate; to succeed one another in due order. -- Turn and turn about, by equal alternating periods of service or duty; by turns. -- Turn bench, a simple portable lathe, used on a bench by clock makers and watchmakers. -- Turn buckle. See Turnbuckle, in Vocabulary. -- Turn cap, a sort of chimney cap which turns round with the wind so as to present its opening to the leeward. G. Francis. -- Turn of life (Med.), change of life. See under Change. -- Turn screw, a screw driver.
turnverb
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
To make a non-linear physical movement. | To move about an axis through itself. | To make a non-linear physical movement. | To change the direction or orientation of, especially by rotation. | To make a non-linear physical movement. | To change one's direction of travel. | To make a non-linear physical movement. | To shape (something) symmetrically by rotating it against a stationary cutting tool, as on a lathe. | To make a non-linear physical movement. | To give form to; to shape or mould; to adapt. | To make a non-linear physical movement. | To direct or impel (something) into a place. | To make a non-linear physical movement. | To position (something) by folding it, or using its folds. | To make a non-linear physical movement. | To navigate through a book or other printed material. | To make a non-linear physical movement. | To twist or sprain. | To make a non-linear physical movement. | Of a bowler, to make (the ball) move sideways off the pitch when it bounces. | To make a non-linear physical movement. | Of a ball, to move sideways off the pitch when it bounces. | To change condition or attitude. | To become (often used with colors, clear sudden changes, weather and ages). | To change condition or attitude. | To change the color of the leaves in the autumn. | To change condition or attitude. | To change fundamentally; to metamorphose. | To change condition or attitude. | To change fundamentally; to metamorphose. | To sour or spoil; to go bad. | To change condition or attitude. | To change fundamentally; to metamorphose. | To make acid or sour; to ferment; to curdle. | To change condition or attitude. | To change fundamentally; to metamorphose. | To change (a person) into a vampire, werewolf, zombie, etc. | To change condition or attitude. | To change fundamentally; to metamorphose. | To transform into a vampire, werewolf, zombie, etc. | To change condition or attitude. | To change fundamentally; to metamorphose. | To change the sexual orientation or gender of another person, or otherwise awaken a sexual preference. | To change condition or attitude. | To hinge; to depend. | To change condition or attitude. | To rebel; to go against something formerly tolerated. | To change condition or attitude. | To change personal condition. | To change personalities, such as from being a face (good guy) to heel (bad guy) or vice versa. | To change condition or attitude. | To change personal condition. | To make or become giddy; said of the head or brain. | To change condition or attitude. | To change personal condition. | To sicken; to nauseate. | To change condition or attitude. | To change personal condition. | To be nauseated; said of the stomach. | To change one's course of action; to take a new approach. | To complete. | To make (money); turn a profit. | Of a player, to go past an opposition player with the ball in one's control. | To undergo the process of turning on a lathe. | To bring down the feet of a child in the womb, in order to facilitate delivery. | To invert a type of the same thickness, as a temporary substitute for any sort which is exhausted. | To translate. | To magically or divinely repel undead.
turnnoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
A change of direction or orientation. | A movement of an object about its own axis in one direction that continues until the object returns to its initial orientation. | A movement of an object about its own axis in one direction that continues until the object returns to its initial orientation. | A unit of plane angle measurement based on this movement. | A walk to and fro. | A chance to use (something) shared in sequence with others. | A spell of work, especially the time allotted to a person in a rota or schedule. | One's chance to make a move in a game having two or more players. | A figure in music, often denoted ~, consisting of the note above the one indicated, the note itself, the note below the one indicated, and the note itself again. | The time required to complete a project. | The transition from one period or era to another. | A fit or a period of giddiness. | A change in temperament or circumstance. | A sideways movement of the ball when it bounces (caused by rotation in flight). | The fourth communal card in Texas hold 'em. | The flop (the first three community cards) in Texas hold 'em. | A deed done to another; an act of kindness or malice. | A single loop of a coil. | A pass behind or through an object. | Character; personality; nature. | An instance of going past an opposition player with the ball in one's control. | A short skit, act, or routine. | A type turned upside down to serve for another character that is not available. | The profit made by a stockjobber, being the difference between the buying and selling prices.

Explore the full Law Mind legal research platform.

SubscribeEncyclopediaSign In