The Collaborative International Dictionary
Turret \Tur"ret\, n. [OE. touret, OF. tourette, dim. of tour a tower, L. turris. See Tower.]
(Arch.) A little tower, frequently a merely ornamental structure at one of the angles of a larger structure.
(Anc. Mil.) A movable building, of a square form, consisting of ten or even twenty stories and sometimes one hundred and twenty cubits high, usually moved on wheels, and employed in approaching a fortified place, for carrying soldiers, engines, ladders, casting bridges, and other necessaries.
(Mil.) A revolving tower constructed of thick iron plates, within which cannon are mounted. Turrets are used on vessels of war and on land.
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(Railroads) The elevated central portion of the roof of a passenger car. Its sides are pierced for light and ventilation.
Turret clock, a large clock adapted for an elevated position, as in the tower of a church.
Turret head (Mach.), a vertical cylindrical revolving tool holder for bringing different tools into action successively in a machine, as in a lathe.
Turret lathe, a turning lathe having a turret head.
Turret ship, an ironclad war vessel, with low sides, on which heavy guns are mounted within one or more iron turrets, which may be rotated, so that the guns may be made to bear in any required direction.
Turret lathe \Tur"ret lathe\ a lathe fitted with a turrethead.
Wiktionary
n. A turning lathe having a turret head.
Wikipedia
The turret lathe is a form of metalworking lathe that is used for repetitive production of duplicate parts, which by the nature of their cutting process are usually interchangeable. It evolved from earlier lathes with the addition of the turret, which is an indexable toolholder that allows multiple cutting operations to be performed, each with a different cutting tool, in easy, rapid succession, with no need for the operator to perform set-up tasks in between, such as installing or uninstalling tools, nor to control the toolpath. The latter is due to the toolpath's being controlled by the machine, either in jig-like fashion, via the mechanical limits placed on it by the turret's slide and stops, or via electronically-directed servomechanisms for computer numerical control lathes.
Usage examples of "turret lathe".
Jason Tavern had been born in Cicero, Illinois, his father had been a turret lathe operator, his grandfather had owned a chain of retail farmequipment stores--a lucky break, considering what he had told McNulty about his current career.
He stalked over to an operator of a six-ton turret lathe, who was shaving thin slices off an intricate aluminum sculpture.
Then maintenance fumbles and we tear the gearing out of a turret lathe.
The lower forms of human life: clerks, bus drivers, day-laborers, typists, janitors, tailors, bakers, turret lathe operators, shipping clerks, baseball players, radio announcers, garage mechanics, policemen, necktie peddlers, ice cream vendors, door-to-door salesmen, bill collectors, receptionists, welders, carpenters, construction laborers, farmers, politicians, merchants -- the men and women whose very existence terrified the Null-O's to their core.
The lower forms of human life: clerks, bus drivers, day-laborers, typists, janitors, tailors, bakers, turret lathe operators, shipping clerks, baseball players, radio announcers, garage mechanics, policemen, necktie peddlers, ice cream vendors, door-to-door salesmen, bill collectors, receptionists, welders, carpenters, construction laborers, farmers, politi.
Up in Hartford, Browne and Sharpe stop when they've got a turret lathe.
You see, while practically anyone can learn a few simple cantrips, to operate a presensitized broomstick or vacuum cleaner or turret lathe or whatever, only a small minority of the human race can qualify as adepts.