▪ I. turner1
(ˈtɜːnə(r))
Forms: 4 tourner(e, 4–5 tornere, 5 turnere; 5 turnor, -owre, 5–6 -our, tornour; 5 turnare, 5–6 torner, 6 -ar, turnar, 5– turner.
[a. OF. tornere (nom.):—L. tornātor, and torneor (acc.), F. tourneur:—L. tornatōr-em, agent-n. from tornāre to turn in a lathe; in later senses f. turn v. + -er1.]
I. 1. a. One who turns or fashions objects of wood, metal, bone, etc., on a lathe. Also fig.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 1586 Taliours, Telers, Turners of vesselles. 1415 in York Myst. Introd. 25 Tielmakers, Milners,..Turnours,..Bollers. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 507/2 Turnowre, tornator. 1485 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 22 William Parken of London Turnor for iij dd shodde shovilles..xvs. 1507–8 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 104 Le Tornour pro CCC parapsidum et CCC discorum ligneorum, vijs. 1530 Palsgr. 284/1 Turnar a maker of bolles and dysshes, torneur. 1551 Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 111 Euery common turner can..know y{supt} a little altering of the one side, maketh the boul to run biasse waies. 1552 Huloet, Turnours whele or instrument, tornus. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. lxviii. 99 Horse tayle..stemmes..their roughnesse is such, that Turners..do vse them to polish..and smoth their workes. 1685 Boyle Effects of Mot. ii. 7, I have caused a skilfull Turner to turn for me an oblong piece of Iron. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 3 ¶5 Advice to the Poets; that is to say, to the Turners of Verse, as he calls 'em. 1776 Pennsylvania Even. Post 23 Mar. 149/1 A Turner of Brass is likewise wanted. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xiv, One Mr. Kenwigs, a turner in ivory. 1892 Labour Commission Gloss. s.v., When a turner himself holds the tool which cuts the iron or other material he is turning, he is termed a hand tool turner. |
b. A potter; esp. one who finishes and smooths the ware before it is fired.
| 1601 Holland Pliny xxxv. xii. II. 553 That kind [of earthenware] that is wrought by turners craft with the wheele. Ibid. xxxvi. xxii. 592 A stone, which they use to hew hollow, and by turners craft make vessels for the kitchin. 1790 in Guide Mus. Pract. Geol. (1859) 98 About 90 painters..and about 200 throwers, turners, &c., were employed. 1853 Ure Dict. Arts II. 455 When the ‘thrown ware’ is sufficiently dry, it is transferred to the hands of the ‘turner’. 1881 Porcelain Works, Worcester 20 The turner..finishes the edge and foot, and if necessary the outside surface. 1892 Labour Commission Gloss., Turners, potters who shape pottery ware upon a lathe. |
II. One who or that which turns, in various other senses of the verb.
2. a. In general senses: see turn v.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 507/1 Turnare, or he that turnythe a spete or other lyke, versor. 1491 in York Myst. Introd. 39 Tixt-wryters, luminers, noters, turners, and florisschers. 1527 Luton Trin. Guild (1906) 188 Item payd to a xjtis turners of spyttis xvij d. 1546 Bp. Gardiner Declar. Art. Joye 55 b, I affirme y⊇ same iustification that was then taught, and yow be the turners. 1552 Huloet, Turnour of one out of the ryght waye, obuaricator. 1593 Rites of Durham (Surtees 1903) 3 Which wheele did burst in peices and caught the turners of the said wheele and..rent them in peices. 1697 Bentley Phal. (1699) 422 If I really were such a Turner of Index's and Lexicons. 1702 Dennis Monument xxxiii, Nor sordid Turner of his Gold for Gain. 1730 Savery in Phil. Trans. XXXVI. 338 The whole may be made to turn with one's Hand, either with a Crank.., or with a Turner like that of a Grinding-stone. 1861 Times 1 June, Several winnowing machines and one hay turner are damaged. 1868 Morris Earthly Par. (1870) I. ii. 588 An accursed race, Who with the turner of all hearts once strove. 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 490 He is a turner of night into day. 1893 W. B. Yeats Celtic Twilight (1902) 24 Villages of fishermen and turners of the earth. |
b. With adverbs: cf. turn v. VIII.
| 1653 Waterhouse Apol. Learn. 245 Perswaders, and turners away of the people from obedience. 1681 MacWard Contendings (1723) 89 Such Backdrawers, and Turners-aside with the Workers of Iniquity. 1892 Sat. Rev. 13 Aug. 205/2 To the idle turner-over, perhaps the most remarkable thing is the frequency of the phrase ‘no information’. |
† 3. A translator. Obs. rare.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 237 Þe seuenty torneres [Caxton turneres] and Isidre also..seiþ two þowsand ȝere seuen hondred and two and fourty. Ibid. 245 Þey beeþ specialliche i-cleped þe Seuenty tourneris [v.r. turneres], for þey torned Holy Writte out of Ebrew in to Grewe. c 1425 Saints' Lives, Apol. in Anglia VIII. 195/31 Þe turner of þis englysshe. |
4. In shirt-making: see quot.
| 1884 E. Simcox in 19th Cent. June 1041 A preparer of collars and wristbands, known as a ‘tacker and turner’. |
† 5. A variety of fancy pigeon. See quot. 1735. Obs.
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 244/2 Of Pigeons... Turners having a tuft turning down backwards from the Head. 1735 Moore Columbarium 50 Columba Circumagens, The Turner..in many Respects like the Finnikin, except that when it..plays to the Female it turns only one Way, whereas the other turns both. [1854 L. A. Meall Moubray's Poultry 280 The Turner is also mentioned... However, if they ever existed, there are certainly none such known now. 1867 Tegetmeier Pigeons xxii. 175.] |
6. In the Newfoundland seal-fishery, a seal which is between the immature and mature stages of development; a three-year old seal. Also attrib. turner-harp, turner-hood (see harp n.1 7, hood n.1 6).
| 1891 in Cent. Dict. |
7. A small piece of fire-clay on which a watch-dial is held and turned while in the enamelling oven.
| 1891 in Cent. Dict. |
III. 8. A member of one of the gymnastic societies instituted in Germany by F. L. Jahn (1778–1852); cf. turning vbl. n. 4 d. Also, a member of a turnverein.
[In this sense a. G. turner, f. turnen to perform gymnastic exercises, an adoption (by Jahn) of F. tourner.]
| 1854 Calif. Chron. 16 May 7/3 We..paid a hasty visit to Russ' Gardens, where the Turners and their compatriots had resumed the sports of the previous day. 1860 in Worcester citing Adler. 1860 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Turner (Germ.), a gymnast. 1865 Pall Mall G. 31 May 9 The late meeting of German turners in Paris. Ibid., The turners who had come from Germany. 1888 U.S. Newspaper 17 Aug., The red and white flags of the turners may be seen. 1913 N.Y. Times 13 Oct. 12/4 There was a big gathering of Turners and guests at the North German Lloyd Line Pier. |
▪ II. ˈturner2 Hist.
Also 7 turno(u)r.
[Etymology not ascertained: perh. an alteration of Tournois, as the coin has considerable resemblance to the double tournois of copper current in France in the 17th cent.; cf. the Irish turneys.]
A small copper coin, current in Scotland in the 17th c., called also a twopenny piece or bodle, valued (when pure) at one-sixth of an English penny. See also turnover.
They were originally coined by the Earl of Stirling c 1623. Counterfeits were also fabricated by gipsies: see quots.
| 1631 Act Privy Council in Cochran-Patrick Rec. Coinage Scot. (1876) II. 28 It is our pleasure that yow giue order..for calling in of the copper money callit Turnours. 1635 Brereton Trav. (Chetham Soc.) 188 Coins current in Scotland—In Copper, Turners 6 to one penny English or 12 Scottish. 1640 Records of Elgin (New Spald. Cl.) I. 266 Geving..thrie dolloris in siluer and receaving back..sex dolloris in turnoris for the samyn. 1642 in Row Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.) p. xviii, Four pund weght of turnoris. Ibid. p. xix, Four markis of turnouris quhilk was gottin out of the Coinze-house. a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1850) I. 235 King Charles turnouris, stricken be the Erll of Striviling,..wes, be proclamatioun..cryit doun fra tua penneis to ane penny; King James turnouris to pas for tua penneis, becauss thay war no less worth; and the kaird turnouris simpliciter dischargeit as falss cungzie. 1786 A. de Cardonnel Numism. Scot. 34 After 1660, we hear of two pennies, bodles, and turners. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXIII. 60/1 s.v. Stirling, Wm. Earl of, He obtained the privilege of coining for Scotland a sort of base copper-money, called ‘turners’. 1882 Francisque-Michel Scot. Lang. vi. 123 Charles I..continued the coinage of the turner. The name was revived and applied to a similar piece coined after the Restoration, in the beginning of Charles II's reign. 1893 Antiquary Mar. 105 Coins found in St. Queran's Well 1869. Scottish..Charles II., Turners and Half Turners. |