churn

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To move or stir something, especially liquid, with great force and motion.

   The storm made the sea churn and crash against the rocks.

2. 2
   verb

   To stir cream forcefully in order to make butter.

   In the past, farmers churned fresh cream by hand to make butter.

3. 3
   verb

   To stop being a customer of a company or stop using its service.

   The phone company lost money as more subscribers churned each month.

4. 4
   noun

   A container in which cream is stirred to make butter.

   The old farmhouse still had a wooden butter churn in the kitchen.

Common collocations

• butter churn Noun + noun

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.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images