turning

noun

1. (Ireland, UK)A turn or deviation from a straight course.

   “Take the second turning on the left.”

   “Except for turnings with a deflated rear tire as an outerside tire, difference in the performance is small between fixed control and manual control.”

2. At hockey, a foul committed by a player attempting to hit the ball who interposes their body between the ball and an opposing player trying to do the same.
3. The cutting of wood or metal on a lathe to shape it as needed.
4. The act of one who turns (rotates or twists).

   “Still talking—more to herself than to the children—she swam into a majestical dance of the stateliest balancings, the haughtiest wheelings and turnings aside, the most dignified sinkings, the gravest risings, all joined together by the elaboratest interlacing steps and circles.”

   “A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.”

5. One of the four eras, each lasting for about 21 years, that make up a saeculum according to the Strauss-Howe generational theory.

   “Howe and Strauss predicted that in the Fourth Turning, Millennials would unite behind their president.”

6. (plural, plural-only)Shavings produced by turning something on a lathe.

   “The turnings get into your trouser turnups!”

verb

1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present)present participle and gerund of turn

   “The Earth is turning about its axis as we speak.”

   “He made wooden soldiers by turning them on a hand lathe.”