turn someone or something back

turn someone or something back
turn someone or something back
to cause someone or something to stop and go back; to cause someone or something to retreat. •

The border guards turned us back because we had no passports.

They turned back the bus because the bridge was down.


Dictionary of American idioms. 2013.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • turn back — verb 1. retrace one s course (Freq. 7) The hikers got into a storm and had to turn back • Syn: ↑backtrack, ↑double back • Hypernyms: ↑return • Verb Frames …   Useful english dictionary

  • turn someone/something down — 1 his novel was turned down: REJECT, spurn, rebuff, refuse, decline; Brit. informal knock back. 2 Pete turned the sound down: REDUCE, lower …   Useful english dictionary

  • turn down — verb 1. refuse to accept (Freq. 5) He refused my offer of hospitality • Syn: ↑refuse, ↑reject, ↑pass up, ↑decline • Ant: ↑accept ( …   Useful english dictionary

  • turn — [tʉrn] vt. [ME turnen < OE turnian & OFr turner, tourner, both < L tornare, to turn in a lathe, turn < tornus, lathe < Gr tornos, lathe, carpenter s compasses, akin to terein, to bore through: for IE base see THROW] I to cause to… …   English World dictionary

  • turn the other cheek — {v. phr.} To let someone do something to you and not to do it in return; not hit back when hit; be patient when injured or insulted by someone; not try to get even. * /Joe turned the other cheek when he was hit with a snowball./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • turn the other cheek — {v. phr.} To let someone do something to you and not to do it in return; not hit back when hit; be patient when injured or insulted by someone; not try to get even. * /Joe turned the other cheek when he was hit with a snowball./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • turn — turn1 W1S1 [tə:n US tə:rn] v ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(your body)¦ 2¦(object)¦ 3¦(direction)¦ 4¦(move around central point)¦ 5¦(change)¦ 6¦(attention/thoughts)¦ 7 turn your back (on somebody/something) 8¦(age/time)¦ 9 turn something inside out …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • turn — turn1 [ tɜrn ] verb *** ▸ 1 change position ▸ 2 change direction ▸ 3 make circular movement ▸ 4 do/become something else ▸ 5 become particular age ▸ 6 move page to other side ▸ 7 about stomach ▸ 8 milk: become sour ▸ 9 affect game/fight ▸ 10… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • turn — 1 verb CHANGE DIRECTION/POSITION 1 a) YOUR BODY (I) to move your body so that you are looking in a different direction: Ricky turned and walked away. (+ around/round/away etc): I turned around quickly to see if someone was following. | Dan turned …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • back — back1 W1S1 [bæk] adv ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(return to place)¦ 2¦(as before)¦ 3¦(previous place)¦ 4¦(backwards)¦ 5¦(reply/reaction)¦ 6¦(return something to somebody)¦ 7¦(in the past)¦ 8¦(again)¦ 9 sit/lie/lean back 10¦(away)¦ …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • back — I [[t]bæ̱k[/t]] ADVERB USES ♦ (In addition to the uses shown below, back is also used in phrasal verbs such as date back and fall back on .) 1) ADV: ADV after v, oft ADV prep If you move back, you move in the opposite direction to the one in… …   English dictionary

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