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Definition 2024


turn_out

turn out

See also: turnout and turn-out

English

Verb

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

  1. (intransitive, idiomatic) To result; end up.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, in The Celebrity:
      He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.
    I had hoped our first meeting would turn out better.
  2. (intransitive, idiomatic) To attend; show up.
    Hundreds of people turned out to see the parade.
  3. (transitive, idiomatic) To extinguish a light or other device
    Turn out the lights before you leave.
    • 1854, Dickens, Hard Times, Chapter 11:
      The day grew strong, and showed itself outside, even against the flaming lights within. The lights were turned out, and the work went on.
  4. (intransitive, idiomatic) To become apparent or known, especially (as) it turns out
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess:
      As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help, and he stripped off his tunic at once.
    • 2012 September 15, Amy Lawrence, Arsenal's Gervinho enjoys the joy of six against lowly Southampton”, in the Guardian:
      The Ivorian is a player with such a liking for improvisation it does not usually look like he has any more idea than anyone else what he is going to do next, so it was an interesting choice. As it turned out, it was a masterstroke. The striker was full of running, played with a more direct shoot-on-sight approach than normal and finished with two goals and an assist.
    It turns out that he just made a lucky guess.
  5. (transitive, idiomatic) To produce; make.
    The bakery turns out three hundred pies each day.
  6. (intransitive) To leave a road.
    Turn out at the third driveway.
  7. (transitive) To remove from a mould, bowl etc.
    Turn out the dough onto a board and shape it.
  8. (transitive, idiomatic) To refuse service or shelter; to eject or evict.
    The hotel staff hastened to turn out the noisy drunk.
  9. (sex, transitive, slang) To convince a person (usually a woman) to become a prostitute.

Derived terms

  • as it turns out

Translations

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Anagrams