churn

Noun from Middle English chyrne, cherne, kyrne ( > Scots kirn), from Old English ċyrn, ċyrin, ċirin (“churn”), from Proto-Germanic *kirnijǭ (“churn”); verb from Middle English chyrnen from Old English ċernan, from Proto-Germanic *kirnijaną (“to churn, stir”), of unknown origin. Cognate with West Frisian tsjerne, Dutch karn, Walloon serene, German Karn, Kirne, Norwegian Bokmål kjerne, Danish kærne, Swedish kärna, Icelandic kirna.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tʃɜːn/
• (General American) enPR: chûrn, IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɝn/

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)n

churn (third-person singular simple present churns, present participle churning, simple past and past participle churned)

1. (transitive) To agitate rapidly and repetitively, or to stir with a rowing or rocking motion; generally applies to liquids, notably cream.

   Now the cream is churned to make butter.

   no-churn ice cream

   • 1717, Joseph Addison, Metamorphoses:

     Churned in his teeth, the foamy venom rose.

2. (transitive, figuratively) To produce excessive and sometimes undesirable or unproductive activity or motion.
   • 2012, John Branch, “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in New York Times‎:

     The slope of the terrain, shaped like a funnel, squeezed the growing swell of churning snow into a steep, twisting gorge.

3. (intransitive) To move rapidly and repetitively with a rocking motion; to tumble, mix or shake.

   I was so nervous that my stomach was churning.

4. (business, of a customer) To stop using a company's product or service.
   • 2020, Carl S. Gold, Fighting Churn with Data, page 5:

     Subscriptions can be ended or canceled, which is known as churn. If there are no subscriptions, a customer churns when they stop using the product.

5. (informal, travel, aviation) To repeatedly cancel and rebook a reservation in order to refresh ticket time limits or other fare rule restrictions.
6. (US, informal, finance, travel) To continually sign up for new credit cards in order to earn signup bonuses, airline miles, and other benefits.
7. (finance) To carry out wash sales in order to make the market appear more active than it really is.

churn (countable and uncountable, plural churns)

1. A vessel used for churning, especially for producing butter.

   a butter churn

   • 1849 January 15, “A Glance at Patent Churns”, in Ohio Cultivator: Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture and Domestic Economy‎, volume 5, number 2, page 17:

     We notice by our exchanges that great efforts are being made throughout the western States especially, to palm off upon the farming public various kinds of patent churns, or to induce many mechanics to give large sums for the Right to manufacture the same—while in a majority of cases, we believe, the articles are absolutely worthless, or inferior to older kinds that might be procured for less money. We have repeatedly cautioned our readers against purchasing these new fangled churns until after they have been more fully tested; and we are happy to know that our remarks have saved not a few of our friends from imposition. To set this matter in a clearer light before our readers, we will glance at a few of the different churns, now most prominently before the public—some valuable, some useless.

2. A milk churn (container for the transportation of milk).
   • 1951 October, “The Why and the Wherefore: Milk Platform at Beccles”, in Railway Magazine, page 717:

     As the ends of the up and down platforms are not opposite each other, it is not possible to provide the ordinary type of barrow crossing, and the full churns were too heavy to be man-handled up and down the stairs of the footbridge.

   • 1959 March, R. C. Riley, “Home with the milk”, in Trains Illustrated, page 155:

     In the old days, milk trains consisted entirely of vans loaded with ten-gallon churns. When filled, these churns weigh 130 lb. each and their manipulation is an art. [...] Like the tank wagons, the churns are dairy property, but farmers often have other ideas, and find their own uses for them—it has not been unknown for dairy inspectors to find missing churns tucked away in an unsuspected corner of a farmhouse, filled to the brim with banknotes!

3. (business, uncountable) Customer attrition; the phenomenon or rate of customers leaving a company.
4. (telecommunications) The time when a consumer switches his/her service provider.
5. (telecommunications) The mass of people who are ready to switch carriers.
6. Cyclic activity that achieves nothing.
   • 2007, Hari Kunzru, My Revolutions, page 102:

     I wished my brain would shut up and knew that soon I'd have to start tidying, but first I needed to rest, so I tried to quell the pointless churn behind my eyes and kept on trying (in a minute) until Vicky came back home.

   • 2023 April 18, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea Champions League exit: Where do 'disjointed, broken' Blues go from here?”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Getting the right manager has just been made more difficult by not having Champions League to offer. There will also be a huge churn of players after the lavish, unrewarding outlay this season.

7. (historical) The last grain cut at harvest; kern.

• churn on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• UNHCR, runch