Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A vessel or device in which cream or milk is agitated to separate the oily globules from the caseous and serous parts, used to make butter.
  • noun Turbulence or agitation.
  • intransitive verb To agitate or stir (milk or cream) in order to make butter.
  • intransitive verb To make by the agitation of milk or cream.
  • intransitive verb To agitate vigorously or turn over repeatedly: synonym: agitate.
  • intransitive verb To buy and sell (a client's securities) frequently, especially in order to generate commissions.
  • intransitive verb To make butter by operating a device that agitates cream or milk.
  • intransitive verb To be turbulent or agitated.
  • intransitive verb To move by agitating water or by means of a pumping action.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To stir or agitate in order to make into butter: as, to churn cream.
  • To make by the agitation of cream: as, to churn butter.
  • To shake or agitate with violence or continued motion, as in the operation of making butter.
  • To perform the act of churning, or an act resembling it.
  • noun A block or chuck on a potter's turning-lathe.
  • noun A vessel in which cream or milk is agitated for the purpose of separating the oily parts from the caseous and serous parts, to make butter.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To stir, beat, or agitate, as milk or cream in a churn, in order to make butter.
  • transitive verb To shake or agitate with violence.
  • noun A vessel in which milk or cream is stirred, beaten, or otherwise agitated (as by a plunging or revolving dasher) in order to separate the oily globules from the other parts, and obtain butter.
  • intransitive verb To perform the operation of churning.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To agitate rapidly and repetitively, or to stir with a rowing or rocking motion; generally applies to liquids, notably cream.
  • verb transitive, figuratively To produce excessive and sometimes undesirable or unproductive activity or motion.
  • verb intransitive To move rapidly and repetitively with a rocking motion; to tumble, mix or shake.
  • noun A vessel used for churning.
  • noun telecommunications The time when a consumer switches his/her service provider.
  • noun telecommunications The mass of people who are ready to switch carriers, expressed by the formula Customer Quits/Customer base.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb stir (cream) vigorously in order to make butter
  • noun a vessel in which cream is agitated to separate butterfat from buttermilk
  • verb be agitated

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English chirne, from Old English cyrn, cyrin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English ċyrin. Cognate with West Frisian tsjerne and Dutch karnen.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word churn.

Examples

  • Slide 12: Rule 2 churn, baby, churn* (* as said by Guy Kawasaki)

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

  • Barra estimates GM wastes $1 billion a year on what she calls "churn"-on-again, off-again vehicle projects, late design changes and transfers of engineering work from one part of the world to another.

    Forbes.com: News Joann Muller 2011

  • We actually don't disclose the churn numbers in large part because what we define as churn may be different from the next company, and we don't think there's no standardized view of churn.

    Internet Sector and Stocks Analysis from Seeking Alpha 2010

  • On top of that, the few wireless providers already experimenting with HD, found out that churn is reduced when users used HD phones and hence HD will become a strategic marketing tool for them.

    Time To Make Phone Calls Sound Better? « Steve Wildstrom on Tech 2009

  • But, again, a following created largely through churn is a following that doesn't have significant value in the context of marketing your book.

    Jonathan Fields: The Truth About Author Platforms Jonathan Fields 2010

  • The hiring that occurs to replace lost workers is called churn.

    The Jobs Picture Is Still Far From Rosy Edward Lazear 2012

  • But "the churn is huge," says pastor William Ankerberg.

    Church's role gets stronger, bigger 2008

  • During a relatively placid economic period like the mid-2000s, about 65% of all hiring is associated with what economists have dubbed "churn"-the job-to-job movement of workers through the labour force, which neither adds to nor subtracts from total employment.

    The Economist: Daily news and views 2012

  • What we call churn is someone who has not (inaudible) in a year.

    SeekingAlpha.com: Home Page 2010

  • While it is too early to predict long-term churn profiles, the first Vonage World customer groups are churning at a rate less than half that of similarly tenured customers added in the months prior to the World launch.

    unknown title 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • I like the laborious metre and sound of the word, and I'm also nostalgic for watching my Granny making butter when I was a wee fellow.

    February 22, 2007

  • Fearraigh, you've made this word sound even better. Thanks. :-)

    March 28, 2007

  • "In e-mail marketing, the churn is the percentage of your subscriber list e-mail addresses that unsubscribe or bounce over a set length of time." --Webopedia

    Though I like fearraigh's definition better.

    June 13, 2009