turning

Noun

turning (plural turnings)

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.1974, Shoichi Sano, “Steering and Handling Characteristics of a Vehicle when Fail-safe Tire is Deflated”, in Fifth International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles, page 909
2. (field hockey) 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.1910, Rudyard Kipling, Rewards and Fairies
   • 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.2012 March, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, pages 112–3
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!

   Synonyms:

   swarf