Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Turn; contour; figure; shape.
- n. A pad or more elastic structure worn tied round the waist by women, in order to give the hips an agreeably rounded outline; hence, the whole back drapery of a gown; sometimes, incorrectly, a bustle.
Wiktionary
- n. turn; contour; figure
- n. Any device used by women to expand the skirt of a dress below the waist; a bustle.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Turn; contour; figure.
- n. Any device used by women to expand the skirt of a dress below the waist; a bustle.
Etymologies
- French, from tourner to turn. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“A noticeable feature in her tournure was a magnificent mass of braided locks.”
“Now, though I would not recommend to you, to go into women’s company in search of solid knowledge, or judgment, yet it has its use in other respects; for it certainly polishes the manners, and gives une certaine tournure, which is very necessary in the course of the world; and which Englishmen have generally less of than any people in the world.”
Letters to his son on The Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman
“It is in the best companies only; that you can learn the best manners and that 'tournure', and those graces, which I have so often recommended to you, as the necessary means of making a figure in the world.”
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, 1748
“A company wholly composed of men of learning, though greatly to be valued and respected, is not meant by the words GOOD COMPANY; they cannot have the easy manners and, 'tournure' of the world, as they do not live in it.”
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, 1748
“You easily guess that I mean the graces, the air, address, politeness, and, in short, the whole 'tournure' and”
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, 1750
“You have the French language so perfectly, and you will acquire the French 'tournure' so soon, that I do not know anybody likely to pass their time so well at Paris as yourself.”
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, 1750
“This, with your physics, your geometry, and your exercises, will be all that you can possibly have time for at Paris; for you must allow a great deal for company and pleasures: it is they that must give you those manners, that address, that 'tournure' of the 'beau monde', which will qualify you for your future destination.”
“You may rise up slowly with an Andersonian grace and first one female politely begs permission to remove one of her tidies from your hat; then they will file into the next room, one by one, to see how La Americanos 'sombrero becomes them, while another removes a white, delicately constructed thing from your "tournure" (what they dote on), which latter they have been dying to closely inspect, and to find how you manage to have it hang so prettily.”
“tournure', and particularly of your ENUNCIATION and elegance of style.”
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, 1751
“Au moment de prendre la fuite, la duchesse Camille n'imaginait pas une seule seconde que ce voyage forcé jusqu'aux confins du royaume allait prendre une tournure si... excitante.”
Leçons de plaisir - Happy Book Birthday to my French edition!
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tournure’.
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phrontistery-t
from phrontistery.info
tabacosis, tabanid, tabaret, tabati?re, tabby, tabefaction, tabellary, tabellion, tabernacle, tabernacular, tabescent, tabific and 930 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Tournure tour a-far
springbok, fluent, allegretto, aplomb, viscosity, centipoise, poize, presence, scalebeam, leggiadrous, grazioso, cachucha and 22 more...
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azd's Words
adamantine, abatial, ablate, ablative, abrogate, accretive, acromegaly, acrostic, actinism, actinic, acuity, adduce and 968 more...
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Brochettes of Random Palavery
Another of my random palavery lists for words or phrases that haven't yet found a place in one or more of my other lists.
nonexclusivity, adaptationist, paxillin, adduct, unblushingly cribbed, ptomaïne, microsievert, millisievert, too big to jail, tastemaker, tinsmithing, Nimzo-Indian and 1616 more...
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lotic words of flow
fast flowing, rapid, confluent words
boustrophedon, boustrophedric, thixotrophic, ludic, hesychastic, blend, quaquaversal, phacoemulsification, mordant, glissando, vatic, tournure and 233 more...
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Daisy Miller
Tweets
Looking for tweets for tournure.
yarb It's quite a difficult novel to read and I'm not sure if I will read more by Spackman. He has a special talent for dialogue, reproducing all the filler, dislocations and verbal tics of real speech - sort of like Don DeLillo but Spackman's characters have an extra layer of fanciness in their vocabulary. He is fun to read, just not that engaging; not at all gripping. Something to read four or five pages at a time perhaps. Jan 2, 2012
hernesheir Very nice, yarb. Thanks for this word. I'm tempted to read this book, one which you've mentioned before here. Jan 2, 2012
yarb "He at once replied that while he couldn't say he recalled all this in, uh, quite such unerring detail, still, if a lifetime's delight in the mere look, the mere tournure, of women, in the posed and lovely portraits they always somehow made him half-think they were-"
- W.M. Spackman, An Armful of Warm Girl Jan 2, 2012