turn back

Definitions

1. 1

   To reverse direction and retrace one's steps.

   • Realising he had forgotten his briefcase, he turned back and re-entered the office.
2. 2

   To cause to reverse direction and retrace one's steps.

   • The barrage of machine-gun fire turned back the encroaching soldiers.
   • Pilton Yard, the Lynton & Barnstaple headquarters, has been taken over by a fur trading firm, and would-be trespassers to the old engine-shed are turned back by the pungent odour of heaps of carcases.
3. 3

   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.
   • Once we take this decision, there's no turning back.
   • Welcome to your life There's no turning back Even while we sleep We will find you
4. ›+ 4 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To prevent, or refuse to allow, passage or progress.

      • The soldiers turned back all the refugees at the frontier.
   2. 5

      To adjust to a previous setting.

      • In Autumn we normally turn the clocks back one hour.
      • I love that song: turn back to it!
   3. 6

      To fold something back

      To fold something back; to fold down.

      • When you make the bed, please always turn the sheet back over the blanket.
   4. 7

      To give back

      To give back; to return.

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

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