churn

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a vessel in which cream is agitated to separate butterfat from buttermilk

   The children worked the churn to make butter.

2. 2
   verb

   to stir cream vigorously in order to make butter

   The farmhand churned the fresh cream.

3. 3
   verb

   to be agitated

   The sea was churning in the storm.

4. 4
   noun

   the processing a series of things

   The daily churn of stories kept the news team busy.

5. 5
   verb

   To agitate rapidly and repetitively, or to stir with a rowing or rocking motion; generally applies to liquids, notably cream.

   Now the cream is churned to make butter.

6. 6
   verb

   To produce excessive and sometimes undesirable or unproductive activity or motion.

   The slope of the terrain, shaped like a funnel, squeezed the growing swell of churning snow into a steep, twisting gorge.

7. 7
   verb

   To move rapidly and repetitively with a rocking motion; to tumble, mix or shake.

   I was so nervous that my stomach was churning.

8. 8
   verb

   To stop using a company's product or service.

   Subscriptions can be ended or canceled, which is known as churn. If there are no subscriptions, a customer churns when they stop using the product.

Etymology

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.