Turn Back
WordNet
verb
(1) Turn inside out or upside down
(2) Go back to a previous state
"We reverted to the old rules"
(3) Hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of
"Arrest the downward trend"
"Check the growth of communism in South East Asia"
"Contain the rebel movement"
"Turn back the tide of communism"
(4) Force to go away; used both with concrete and metaphoric meanings
"Drive away potential burglars"
"Drive away bad thoughts"
"Dispel doubts"
"The supermarket had to turn back many disappointed customers"
(5) Retrace one's course
"The hikers got into a storm and had to turn back"
WiktionaryText
Verb
- To reverse one's direction and retrace one's steps.
- Realising he had forgotten his briefcase, he turned back to the office.
- To backtrack
- He stopped drinking for a couple of years, but now he has turned back to his old ways
- Once we take this decision, there's no turning back.
- to fold something back; to fold down
- When you make the bed, please always turn the sheet back over the blanket.
- No turn a dial anticlockwise or adjust a clock or other meter to an earlier time or reading.
- In Autumn we normally turn the clocks back one hour.
- To refuse to allow someone to pass a border or enter a place.
- The soldiers turned back all the refugees at the frontier.
Usage notes
- In senses 3 and 4 the object is normally a thing. It may appear before or after the particle. If the object is a pronoun, then it must be before the particle.
- In sense 5 the object is normally a person, or group of people, or means of transport. It may appear before or after the particle. If the object is a pronoun, then it must be before the particle.
Synonyms
- (1): about turn, about face
- (3): fold, fold back
- (5): drive away