Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

2 PHRASAL VERB If you turn someone in , you take them to the police or tell the police where they are because they are suspected of committing a crime. If you turn yourself in , you go to the police because you have been involved in a crime. □ [V n P + to ] He has been given until noon today to turn himself in to the authorities. □ [V n P ] There would be strong incentives to turn someone in. □ [V P n] I might today hesitate to turn in a burglar.

3 PHRASAL VERB When you turn in a completed piece of work, especially written work, you give it to the person who asked you to do it. □ [V P n] Now we wait for them to turn in their essays. □ [V n P ] I want everybody to turn a report in.

4 PHRASAL VERB If you turn something in , you return it to the place or person you borrowed it from. [mainly AM ] □ [V P n] I went back to the station-house to turn in my badge and gun. [Also V n P ]

▸  turn off

1 PHRASAL VERB If you turn off the road or path you are going along, you start going along a different road or path which leads away from it. □ [V P n] The truck turned off the main road along the gravelly track which led to the farm. □ [V P ] He turned off only to find he was trapped in a town square with no easy exit.

2 → see also turn-off

3 PHRASAL VERB When you turn off a piece of equipment or a supply of something, you stop heat, sound, or water being produced by adjusting the controls. □ [V n P ] The light's a bit too harsh. You can turn it off. □ [V P n] I have to get up and turn off the radio.

4 PHRASAL VERB If something turns you off a particular subject or activity, it makes you have no interest in it. □ [V n P n] What turns teenagers off science and technology? □ [V n P ] Teaching off a blackboard is boring, and undoubtedly turns people off. [Also V P n]

5 PHRASAL VERB If something or someone turns you off , you do not find them sexually attractive or they stop you feeling sexually excited. [INFORMAL ] □ [V n P ] Aggressive men turn me off completely. [Also V P n]

6 → see also turn-off

▸  turn on

1 PHRASAL VERB When you turn on a piece of equipment or a supply of something, you cause heat, sound, or water to be produced by adjusting the controls. □ [V P n] I want to turn on the television. □ [V n P ] She asked them why they hadn't turned the lights on.

2 PHRASAL VERB If someone or something turns you on , they attract you and make you feel sexually excited. [INFORMAL ] □ [V n P ] The body that turns men on doesn't have to be perfect. [Also V P n (not pron)]

3 → see also turn-on

4 PHRASAL VERB If you say that someone turns on a particular way of behaving, you mean that they suddenly start behaving in that way, and you are often also suggesting that this is insincere. [INFORMAL ] □ [V P n] He could also turn on the style when the occasion demanded. [Also V n P ]

5 PHRASAL VERB If someone turns on you, they attack you or speak angrily to you. □ [V P n] Demonstrators turned on police, overturning vehicles and setting fire to them.

6 PHRASAL VERB If something turns on a particular thing, its success or truth depends on that thing. □ [V P n] The plot turns on an encounter with a boyhood friend.

▸  turn out

1 PHRASAL VERB If something turns out a particular way, it happens in that way or has the result or degree of success indicated. □ [V P prep] If I had known my life was going to turn out like this, I would have let them kill me. □ [V P n] Sometimes things don't turn out the way we think they're going to. □ [V P adj] I was positive things were going to turn out fine.