Turn back

verb

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To reverse direction and retrace one's steps. intransitive

    "Realising he had forgotten his briefcase, he turned back and re-entered the office."

  2. 2
    turn inside out or upside down wordnet
  3. 3
    To cause to reverse direction and retrace one's steps. transitive

    "The barrage of machine-gun fire turned back the encroaching soldiers."

  4. 4
    go back to a previous state wordnet
  5. 5
    To return to a previous state of being.

    "He stopped drinking for a couple of years, but now he has turned back to his old ways."

Show 7 more definitions
  1. 6
    hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of wordnet
  2. 7
    To prevent, or refuse to allow, passage or progress. transitive

    "The soldiers turned back all the refugees at the frontier."

  3. 8
    force to go away; used both with concrete and metaphoric meanings wordnet
  4. 9
    To adjust to a previous setting. transitive

    "In Autumn we normally turn the clocks back one hour."

  5. 10
    retrace one's course wordnet
  6. 11
    To fold something back; to fold down. transitive

    "When you make the bed, please always turn the sheet back over the blanket."

  7. 12
    To give back; to return. obsolete, transitive

    "We turn not back the silks upon the merchants, When we have soiled them; nor the remainder viands."

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