What is "to take turns"

Turn \Turn\, n.

1. The act of turning; movement or motion about, or as if about, a center or axis; revolution; as, the turn of a wheel.

2. Change of direction, course, or tendency; different order, position, or aspect of affairs; alteration; vicissitude; as, the turn of the tide.

   At length his complaint took a favorable turn.
   --Macaulay.

   The turns and varieties of all passions.
   --Hooker.

   Too well the turns of mortal chance I know.
   --Pope.

3. One of the successive portions of a course, or of a series of occurrences, reckoning from change to change; hence, a winding; a bend; a meander.

   And all its [the river's] thousand turns disclose. Some fresher beauty varying round.
   --Byron.

4. A circuitous walk, or a walk to and fro, ending where it began; a short walk; a stroll.

   Come, you and I must walk a turn together.
   --Shak.

   I will take a turn in your garden.
   --Dryden.

5. Successive course; opportunity enjoyed by alternation with another or with others, or in due order; due chance; alternate or incidental occasion; appropriate time. ``Nobleness and bounty . . . had their turns in his [the king's] nature.''

   His turn will come to laugh at you again.
   --Denham.

   Every one has a fair turn to be as great as he pleases.
   --Collier.

6. Incidental or opportune deed or office; occasional act of kindness or malice; as, to do one an ill turn.

   Had I not done a friendes turn to thee?
   --Chaucer.

   thanks are half lost when good turns are delayed.
   --Fairfax.

7. Convenience; occasion; purpose; exigence; as, this will not serve his turn.

   I have enough to serve mine own turn.
   --Shak.

8. Form; cast; shape; manner; fashion; -- used in a literal or figurative sense; hence, form of expression; mode of signifying; as, the turn of thought; a man of a sprightly turn in conversation.

   The turn of both his expressions and thoughts is unharmonious.
   --Dryden.

   The Roman poets, in their description of a beautiful man, often mention the turn of his neck and arms.
   --Addison.

9. A change of condition; especially, a sudden or recurring symptom of illness, as a nervous shock, or fainting spell; as, a bad turn. [Colloq.]

10. A fall off the ladder at the gallows; a hanging; -- so called from the practice of causing the criminal to stand on a ladder which was turned over, so throwing him off, when the signal was given. [Obs.]

11. A round of a rope or cord in order to secure it, as about a pin or a cleat.

12. (Mining) A pit sunk in some part of a drift.

13. (Eng. Law) A court of record, held by the sheriff twice a year in every hundred within his county.
    --Blount.

14. pl. (Med.) Monthly courses; menses. [Colloq.]

15. (Mus.) An embellishment or grace (marked thus, ?), commonly consisting of the principal note, or that on which the turn is made, with the note above, and the semitone below, the note above being sounded first, the principal note next, and the semitone below last, the three being performed quickly, as a triplet preceding the marked note. The turn may be inverted so as to begin with the lower note, in which case the sign is either placed on end thus ?, or drawn thus ?. By turns.

    1. One after another; alternately; in succession.

    2. At intervals. ``[They] feel by turns the bitter change.''
       --Milton.

       In turn, in due order of succession.

       To a turn, exactly; perfectly; as, done to a turn; -- a phrase alluding to the practice of cooking on a revolving spit.

       To take turns, to alternate; to succeed one another in due order.

       Turn and turn about, by equal alternating periods of service or duty; by turns.

       Turn bench, a simple portable lathe, used on a bench by clock makers and watchmakers.

       Turn buckle. See Turnbuckle, in Vocabulary.

       Turn cap, a sort of chimney cap which turns round with the wind so as to present its opening to the leeward.
       --G. Francis.

       Turn of life (Med.), change of life. See under Change.

       Turn screw, a screw driver.