For forms see sb.: also 6 chearn, 7 cherm, charm. [f. prec. sb. Not recorded in OE., but cf. MG. kirnen, kernen, so Ger. dial., also karnen, Du. karnen, Da. kjerne, Sw. kärna, all in same sense.]
1. trans. To agitate milk or cream in a churn so as to make butter; to produce butter thus.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 76. Chyrne botyr, cumo.
1530. Palsgr., 483/2. I cherne butter, je bas le beurre.
1535. Coverdale, Prov. xxx. 33. Who so chyrneth mylck, maketh butter.
1605. Timme, Quersit., I. vii. 33. The experience of charming and working simple milke.
1615. Markham, Eng. Housew. (1649), 196. Your creame being neatly and sweet kept, you shall churme or churne it.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farme, 65. To make this Butter, shee shall beat or cherne it a great while in Vessels made for the purpose.
1747. Wesley, Prim. Physick (1762), 48. Take no Food but new Butter Milk, churn’d in a Bottle, and white Bread.
1886. Pall Mall Gaz., 21 Sept., 2/1. In Normandy, whether the farmer has a large dairy or a small one, he churns his cream every day.
fig. 1641. J. Jackson, True Evang. T., I. 7. It is a safe rule in the partition of holy Scripture, not to churne the sincere milk thereof till butter come.
b. intr. To work a churn, make butter.
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., I. v. 8. There will never come anie butter, chearne as long as you list.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., II. i. 37. And bootlesse make the breathlesse huswife cherne.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xxii. (L.). Putting his countess into the dairy to churn and to make cheeses.
2. To agitate, stir, and intermix any liquid, or mixture of liquid and solid matter; to produce (froth, etc.) by this process. To churn one’s way; to advance by churning up (the sea, etc.).
1697. Dryden, Æneid, VII. 633. Churning bloody Foam.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XII. 307. The flesh trembles while she churns the blood.
1835. Campbell, Poems, Dead Eagle, 65. Winds churn’d white the waves.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxiv. (1854), 196. The sea seemed to be churning ice.
1873. Black, Pr. Thule, ii. 13. All last night churning our way up to Loch Gair.
1880. Browning, Dram. Idylls, II. Pan & Luna, 58. Lost in the thin foam Churned on a sea-shore.
b. intr.
1735. Somerville, Chase, IV. 223. Like some angry Boar Churning he foams.
a. 1813. A. Wilson, Foresters, Poet. Wks. (1846), 267. The deep bilge water churned and roared below.
1865. Livingstone, Zambesi, xxii. 452. Each with his powerful tail causing the water to churn and froth.
Churned ppl. a.; Churner, one who churns.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Mixing in body, A Quart of churn’d Milk.
1878. Black, Green Past., xxxiii. 263. Here was no churned chalk.
1888. Punch, 20 Oct., 182/3. You’ve been to the Dairy Show, Sir, have you not?… Those churners competitive were a sweet lot.
