take a turn

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.
   • 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...1819, Hosea Ballou (the Elder.), A Sermon, delivered in the Second Universalist Meeting House
   • He said to me: 'Look you, Rosebud child, things will take a turn.'1895, Beatrice Harraden, Things Will Take a Turn: A Story for Children, pages 17–18
2. To walk around; to stroll.
   • I must take a turn in the open air to recover myself.1798, August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue, The Stranger: a comedy
   • 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.2001, Charles R. Swindoll, The Mystery of God's Will, →ISBN
3. To participate in an activity involving two or more participants.
   • At each of these decision-making points, participants may choose not to take a turn.1980, Mary Ritchie Key, The Relationship of Verbal and Nonverbal Communication, →ISBN, page 295
   • There are many opportunities, in the form of pauses and gaps, for the therapist to take a turn.2005, Hanneke Bot, Dialogue Interpreting in Mental Health, →ISBN, page 120