[UP- 2.]
1. An upturned or upthrown part.
1868. Kinglake, Crimea, IV. v. 90. A little upturn of the soil with a few Turks standing behind it.
2. fig. = UPHEAVAL 2.
1864. Gd. Words, 231/1. The upturns and the overthrows of war.
1873. Symonds, Grk. Poets, viii. 239. That idea of world-destruction, of that total upturn and Titanic revolution in the universe.
1883. 19th Cent., May, 796. There has been no greater revolution and upturn of all preconceived notions.