turn back | Idiomator

Meaning: (intransitive)Toreversedirectionandretraceone'ssteps.Synonyms:about turn,about faceRealising he had forgotten his briefcase, heturned backand re-entered the office.1914November,Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider[…]”, inMunsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.:The Frank A[ndrew]Munsey Company,[…], published1915,→OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact),page382, column 1:Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.; (transitive)To cause toreversedirectionandretraceone'ssteps.The barrage of machine-gun fireturned backthe encroaching soldiers.1951February, “Notes and News: Lynton & Barnstaple Remains”, inRailway Magazine, page136:Pilton Yard, the Lynton & Barnstaple headquarters, has been taken over by a fur trading firm, and would-be trespassers to the old engine-shed areturned backby the pungent odour of heaps of carcases.; Toreturnto apreviousstate of being.He stopped drinking for a couple of years, but now he hasturned backto his old ways.Once we take this decision, there's noturning back.1985,Roland Orzabal,Ian Stanley,Chris Hughes, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, inSongs from the Big Chair‎[1], performed byTears for Fears:Welcome to your lifeThere's noturning backEven while we sleepWe will find you; (transitive)Toprevent, orrefusetoallow,passageorprogress.Synonyms:drive away,repel,turn away,stopCoordinate term:kick outThe soldiersturned backall the refugees at the frontier.; (transitive)Toadjustto a previous setting.In Autumn we normallyturnthe clocksbackone hour.I love that song:turn backto it!; (transitive)Tofoldsomething back; tofold down.Coordinate term:turn downWhen you make the bed, please alwaysturnthe sheetbackover the blanket.; (obsolete,transitive)Togive back; toreturn.1602,William Shakespeare,Troilus and Cressida‎[2], act II, scene II:Weturnnotbackthe silks upon the merchants,When we have soiled them; nor the remainder viands.

Examples:

EN: And while the boatmen who brought Reine turn back to reassure her mother the "Lorraine" turned round and, going from side to side, searched the restless lake.
ES: Y aunque los barqueros que habían traído a Reina volvieron para tranquilizar a su madre la "Lorraine" cambió de rumbo y, costeando, escudriñaba el embravecido lago...
EN: -- turn back ere ye perish!
ES: marchaos o moriréis!"
EN: Look, we should turn back.
ES: Mira, deberíamos volver.
EN: I will not turn back!
ES: ¡No retrocederé!
EN: There's still time... to turn back.
ES: Aún estamos a tiempo de dar la vuelta.
EN: No, I can't turn back now.
ES: No, no puedo dar la vuelta ahora.
EN: Most everything's ready, Captain Hollister. Listen, why don't you give up this plan and turn back?
ES: ¿Por qué no renuncia a esta idea y da la vuelta?
EN: Why, there's no place to turn back to.
ES: Porque no tengo adónde ir.
EN: Bascom, you tell them pilgrims of yours, there's 500 miles of desert ahead of us and them that don't like what's comin' to them, now's the time for 'em to turn back.
ES: Bascom, diles a tus colonos... que tenemos 800 kilómetros de desierto por delante... y aquellos que no les guste lo que les espera... ahora es el momento de que den la vuelta.
EN: Let's turn back.
ES: Demos la vuelta.
EN: Ma, let's turn back to Missouri!
ES: Mamá, regresemos a Misuri.
EN: Say, Uncle, when did Bascom women ever turn back?
ES: ¿Desde cuándo dan la vuelta las mujeres Bascom?
EN: We can't turn back.
ES: No podemos dar la vuelta.
EN: Not even storms of the sea could turn back those first settlers.
ES: Ni las tormentas marinas hicieron dar la vuelta a los primeros pioneros.
EN: We'd better turn back.
ES: Será mejor que demos la vuelta.

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