The Collaborative International Dictionary
Churn \Churn\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Churned (ch[^u]rnd); p. pr. & vb. n. Churning.] [OE. chernen, AS. cernan; akin to LG. karnen, G. kernen, D. karnen, Dan. kierne, Sw. k["a]rna, and also to E. corn, kernel, the meaning coming from the idea of extracting the kernel or marrow. See Kernel.]
To stir, beat, or agitate, as milk or cream in a churn, in order to make butter.
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To shake or agitate with violence.
Churned in his teeth, the foamy venom rose.
--Addison.
Churning \Churn"ing\, n.
The act of one who churns.
The quantity of butter made at one operation.
Wiktionary
n. The act by which something is churned. vb. (present participle of churn English)
WordNet
adj. moving with or producing or produced by vigorous agitation; "winds whipped the piled leaves into churning masses"; "a car stuck in the churned-up mud" [syn: churned-up]
(of a liquid) agitated vigorously; in a state of turbulence; "the river's roiling current"; "turbulent rapids" [syn: roiling, roiled, roily, turbulent]
Wikipedia
Churning is the practice of executing trades for an investment account by a salesman or broker in order to generate commission from the account. It is a breach of securities law in many jurisdictions, and it is generally actionable by the account holder for the return of the commissions paid, and any losses occasioned by the broker's choice of stocks.
Courts generally look at the turnover of an investment account, or the number of times the investment capital has been re-invested during a year. For example, for an actively traded mutual fund, the entire assets of the fund will be involved in buying and selling transactions once every six to twenty-four months. In churning cases, the entire assets of the investor are often traded once a month, or even more frequently. As a commission is paid on each trade, commissions can substantially destroy the value of an investment account in a very short period of time.
Critics of the practice of paying brokers commissions for managing investment accounts point to churning as one of the indicators that the brokerage system indirectly encourages such behavior by brokers to the detriment of investors. Accounts invested in securities with steady returns and little price fluctuation generate no commissions, and brokers are therefore not encouraged to invest their client's money in such investments.
Frequent trading in fee-based accounts is not an example of churning, since no commissions are generated in those transactions. However, the practice of putting clients who trade infrequently into a fee-based brokerage account is known as "reverse churning", since clients are charged fees in accounts with few if any transactions.
Churning is the process of shaking up cream (or whole milk) to make butter, and various forms of butter churn have been used for the purpose. In Europe from the Middle Ages until the Industrial Revolution, this was generally as simple as a barrel with a plunger in it, which was moved by hand. Afterward, mechanical means of churning were usually substituted and are considered to be far better.
Butter is essentially the fat of milk. It is usually made from sweet cream. In the USA, Ireland, the UK and the Nordic countries, salt is usually added to it. Unsalted (sweet) butters are most commonly used in the rest of Europe. However, it can also be made from acidulated or bacteriologically soured cream. Well into the 19th century butter was still made from cream that had been allowed to stand and sour naturally. The cream was then skimmed from the top of the milk and poured into a wooden tub.
Buttermaking was done by hand in butter churns. The natural souring process is, however, a very sensitive one and infection by foreign microorganisms often spoiled the result. Today's commercial buttermaking is a product of the knowledge and experience gained over the years in such matters as hygiene, bacterial acidifying and heat treatment, as well as the rapid technical development that has led to the advanced machinery now used. The commercial cream separator was introduced at the end of the 19th century, the continuous churn had been commercialized by the middle of the 20th century.
Churning is an encryption function used to scramble downstream user data of the ATM passive optical network system defined by the ITU G.983.1 standard.
The standard states that churning "offers a low level of protection for data confidentiality". Cryptanalysis had shown that "the churning cipher is robustly weak".
Usage examples of "churning".
Serrimissani scuttled down it and Ade stepped forward, rifle shouldered, stomach churning, wanting it all to be over and hating himself for his haste.
And through the clouds of dust churning over the battleground, Dain had come riding into view.
He lingered a moment, wondering what it might be like to live on a site like this, to wake up every morning to views of Southsea se afront across the churning tide, then he let the binos drift down again until he was following a line of open gun ports.
The water churning red with tiny crustaceans, the spouts of the humpbacks and the sei and bluefins, the tang of sea-salt and foam - I remembered the sea as if I had lived in the water for a million years.
The water churning red with tiny crustaceans, the spouts of the humpbacks and the sei and bluefins, the tang of sea-salt and foam-I remembered the sea as if I had lived in the water for a million years.
He swam with a powerful crawl stroke and churning feet, keeping his head low in the water and breathing only under his left arm on every fourth stroke, and soon he was even passing the bullboats that were being drawn upstream by strong paddlers.
He escorted Cagliari and the two officers into the Oval Office and found a chair in the corner, his stomach churning in frustration.
He disappeared once more behind the churning colored displays of what Kareen had been assured were enzymatic reactions.
And laughter, as black as the mists from which it issued, flowed out the churning darkness.
In recent months I had, for the first time, lowered myself to the hackwork of popular fiction writing, churning out made-to-order adventure stories for pulp magazines.
The Huanuco Valley was little short of an industrial supply operation, churning out tons of the leaves that produced the stimulant that kept the Incan empire running.
The first mate, already off balance from his downward strike at me, loses his footing and with a cry of alarm is pitched over my head and into the churning sea.
But there he was, stretched out tautly, trying to still his churning thoughts and succeeding no better than all the agitated who had occupied that same procrustean bed.
The tug was churning along in the teeth of the zephyr, and after it had passed the Davy Jones, the workboat turned inshore.
Behind them, beyond the cattails and tall grass, she could see the black waters of the river churning with motion.