tournure

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) [etyl] French, from tourner (“to turn”).

Noun

tournure (countable and uncountable, plural tournures)

1. Turn; contour; figure.
2. Any device used by women to expand the skirt of a dress below the waist; a bustle.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “tournure”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

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French

Etymology

From tourner +‎ -ure

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tuʁ.nyʁ/

Noun

tournure f (plural tournures)

1. (informal) appearance, shape
2. (figuratively) turn, change in circumstance or temperament
3. (linguistics) phrasing, turn of phrase
4. (historical) tournure, bustle
5. (dated) peel (of a fruit)

Further reading

• “tournure”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.