left turn

The noun is derived from left (adjective) + turn (noun).^[1]

The interjection is derived from left (adverb) + turn (verb), while the verb is derived from the interjection.^[2]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌlɛf(t) ˈtɜːn/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌlɛf(t) ˈtɝn/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)n

left turn (plural left turns)

1. (idiomatic) An unexpected change from the way things seemed to be going.
   • 2007, Roni Sarig, Third Coast: OutKast, Timbaland, and How Hip-Hop Became a Southern Thing‎, Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, →ISBN:

     After a self-titled debut did well, Miracle took a surprising left turn with 2001's Keep It Country.

   • 2018 November 14, Jesse Hassenger, “Disney Goes Viral with an Ambitious, Overstuffed Wreck-It Ralph Sequel”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 21 November 2019:

     Directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston, both veterans of the original Wreck-It Ralph team, also pull off some inventive, enlivening left turns that bring to mind the first film.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see left,‎ turn.

left turn

1. (chiefly military) A command to a soldier or other person who is marching: turn ninety degrees to your left!
   • 1810, “Funeral Exercise”, in The Military Companion: Being a System of Company Discipline, Founded on the Regulations of Baron Steuben, Late Major-General and Inspector-General of the Army of the United-States. , 3rd edition, Newburyport, Mass.: Thomas & Whipple. , →OCLC, page 38:

     The commanding officer then orders—Shoulder Arms!—Flanks, to the centre advance!—To the right and left turn!—Forward!

   • , [Alfred Wilks Drayson], chapter XXI, in The Young Dragoon; or, Every Day Life of a Soldier. , London: Ward, Lock, and Tyler, , →OCLC, page 187:

     [I]f they each step off at the same instant, with the left foot, the sound of their feet will enable them to keep step and time, and march about in this form, as directed by the instructor, to the leading file, "right turn" or "left turn," without confusion.

   • 1910, Sun Tzu [Traditional Han: 孫子], “Introduction”, in Lionel Giles, transl., Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War , London: Luzac & Co., translation of 孫子兵法 [Sūnzǐ Bīngfǎ, The Art of War], →OCLC, Sun Wu and His Book, page XI:

     Sun Tzŭ went on: When I say "Eyes front," you must look straight ahead. When I say "Left turn," you must face towards your left hand.

   • 1993, Michael Glover, “England 1914: Your King and Country”, in The Fateful Battle Line: The Great War Journals and Sketches of Captain Henry Ogle, London: Leo Cooper, →ISBN:

     When you joined the Territorial Force you joined a body of men who wash their necks and shine their boots. About turn. Into file, left turn.

   • 2004, Roch Carrier, translated by Sheila Fischman, La Guerre, Yes Sir!, Toronto, Ont.: House of Anansi Press, →ISBN, page 77:

     Go on, soldier! Left! Right! Left! Right! Left! Right! Soldier, left turn!

   • 2013, Billy Gilvear, Eric Gaudion, “Day of Pride”, in Storming Home: British Soldier, Bodyguard to the Stars, Boozer and Addict – Could Billy Change?, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Monarch Books, Lion Hudson, →ISBN, page 54:

     My family were there to witness it all and there I was bawling out the commands, "Left Turn, Right Turn, and Halt!"

left turn (third-person singular simple present left turns, present participle left turning, simple past and past participle left turned)

1. (intransitive, chiefly military) To turn ninety degrees to one's left, especially in response to a military command while marching.
   • , London: , →OCLC, pages 108–109:

     Let them but remember Lewis the eleventh, who to a Clarke of the Exchequer, that came to be Lord Treaſurer, and had (for his device) repreſented himſelfe ſitting upon fortunes wheele: told him, hee might doe well to faſten it with a good ſtrong nayle, left turning about it, it might bring him, where hee was againe. As indeed it did.]

   • 1999, Leslie Thomas, chapter 1, in Other Times, London: Arrow Books, published 2011, →ISBN, page 3:

     They left-turned, right-turned and about-turned, and the sergeant marched them up and down a bit on the asphalt and then silently on the grass, more to get them moving than anything else.

• “left turn, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.