turn away

Verb

turn away (third-person singular simple present turns away, present participle turning away, simple past and past participle turned away)

1. (literally, transitive) To rotate so as not to face someone or something.
   • Thereat the Elfe did blush in priuitee, / And turnd his face away; but she the same / Dissembled faire, and faynd to ouersee.1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
2. (intransitive, literally) To rotate oneself so as not to face someone or something.
3. (literally, transitive) To bend or turn from a fixed course.
4. (intransitive, literally) To bend or turn from a fixed course.
   • He met Luis Suarez's cross at the far post, only for Chelsea keeper Petr Cech to show brilliant reflexes to deflect his header on to the bar. Carroll turned away to lead Liverpool's insistent protests that the ball had crossed the line but referee Phil Dowd and assistant referee Andrew Garratt...2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport
5. (figuratively, transitive) To refuse to admit someone or accept something.
   • He was turned away at the border because he didn't have a valid visa.
   • The referee turned away the players' protests.

   Synonyms:

   turn back

6. (figuratively, transitive) To avert or ward off the occurrence or effects of.
   • to turn away disaster
7. (dated, transitive) To dismiss from service.
   • to turn away a servant
8. (figuratively, intransitive) To forsake or refuse an association or commitment.
   • He turned away from his old comrades.
   • She increasingly turned away from politics.

   Synonyms:

   turn one's back