turn, turn, turn

Hi there.

1. Does 'turn' mean change into something?

2. Is it OK to say, "turn a season", which means change into another season from the current one? For instance, from fall to winter. Is it OK to say, "turn winter"?

3. What does 'a time' mean in the context? Is it a common usage?

4. Does 'under heaven' mean 'in God's will' or 'it's determined, there's no way we can change it'?

5. 'To dance' means happiness while 'to mourn' means sadness. Is it a common usage?

Thanks in advance.


___________
The Song

To everything, turn, turn, turn.
There is a season, turn, turn, turn.
And a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born, a time to die.
A time to plant, a time to reap.
A time to kill, a time to heal.
A time to laugh, a time to weep.

To everything, turn, turn, turn.
There is a season, turn, turn, turn.
And a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to build up, a time to break down.
A time to dance, a time to mourn.
A time to cast away stones.
A time to gather stones together.

To everything, turn, turn, turn.
There is a season, turn, turn, turn.
And a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time of love, a time of hate.
A time of war, a time of peace.
A time you may embrace.
A time to refrain from embracing.

To everything, turn, turn, turn.
There is a season, turn, turn, turn.
And a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to gain, a time to lose.
A time to rend, a time to sow.
A time for love, a time for hate.
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late


Words Definitions: (source:Cambridge)

mourn
verb [I or T]
to feel or express great sadness, especially because of someone's death:
Queen Victoria mourned Prince Albert/Prince Albert's death for 40 years.
She was still mourning for her brother.
They mourned the passing of traditional folk dancing (= felt sad because it had stopped existing).

refrain (NOT DO)
verb [I] FORMAL
to avoid doing or stop yourself from doing something:
We refrained from talking until we knew that it was safe.
The sign on the wall said "Please refrain from smoking."

embrace (HOLD)
verb [I or T] LITERARY
to hold someone tightly with both arms to express love, liking or sympathy, or when greeting or leaving someone:
She saw them embrace on the station platform.
He leant over to embrace the child.

rend
verb [T] rent or US ALSO rended, rent or US ALSO rended OLD USE OR LITERARY
to tear or break something violently:
With one stroke of his sword, he rent his enemy's helmet in two.
[+ adjective] Firemen had to rend him free (= pull him out) of the burning car.
FIGURATIVE A terrifying scream rent the air.

Hi, Nefertiti!

I believe turn, turn, turn in this song means things never remain constant. There is always change in the universe. The turning that takes place in this song represents a gradual, rather than a speedy, change from one event/time to the next event/time. In this regard, yes, turn means to change into something.

No, we do not say 'turn a season'. The gradual change I mentioned above would be summer turning into fall, winter turning into spring, etc. "Summer will turn into fall."

A time to be born, a time to die... once, again, the gradual change that takes place from birth to death.
A time to gain, a time to lose... the cycle continues as we gain something for awhile only to gradually lose it over a period of time.

Under heaven could be interpreted as God's will... but I think it means on earth. The meaning of this expression could be based upon your spiritual belief or it could be taken literally as being located below the sky.

Yes, in this song dance means to be happy and to mourn means to be sad. Yes, to dance and to mourn are common usage.

This song is one of my favorites! I hope you enjoy listening to it, also.

Cheers,
Amigos4

Hi,

"And a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born, a time to die.
A time to plant, a time to reap.
A time to kill, a time to heal.
A time to laugh, a time to weep.

To everything, turn, turn, turn.
There is a season, turn, turn, turn.
And a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to build up, a time to break down.
A time to dance, a time to mourn.
A time to cast away stones.
A time to gather stones together."

1. Does 'a time' mean a particular time or a period of time. Is it a common usage? Do you use it often in your daily conversation?

2. I'm not sure the meaning of 'there's a season, turn, turn, turn'? Can you explain? Is it a common usage? Do you use it often in your daily conversation?

3. To dance means to be happy. Is this a quite common usage? There are lots of ways of showing happiness besides dancing. Aren't they? Also, dancing shows people's feelings including sadness I guess.
But, here 'to dance' definitely means to be happy.

Thanks for the details. They help me a lot to understand the song.
I'm glad you like the song. :-D

Cheerio