Meaning of heel turn | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A ballroom dancing move in which the dancer steps backwards, shifts their weight on to the back foot, and turns on the heel of that foot while holding the other foot close and parallel to it.
2. A turn executed by shifting weight on to the heel(s).
3. An act of turning around abruptly, especially so that one faces the opposite direction.
   broadly
4. A radical change (of mind, opinion, etc.).
   broadly, figuratively
5. A situation in which a wrestler previously identified as a hero changes to being considered a villain
6. A situation in which someone changes from being a hero into a villain.
   broadly

Examples

“The lady's step would then need to be drastically foreshortened, and would degenerate into a heel turn—not infrequent with beginners.”

“A second later, all I could think of was following Dad through the complex pattern of heel turns, weaves, spins and sweeping movements across the floor.”

“In some moves, such as a heel turn[…], the person dancing the heel turn cannot take a long second step, but the other person will.”

“Undoubtedly my old diagram was wrong in omitting to show cusps for the heel turns: […]”

“Turn D, from outside backwards to inside forwards. This is also a heel turn, but is not so difficult as turn B; a considerable amount of practice, however, will be required before the skater will be able to do it with ease.”

“The former of the heel turns, called turn D, can be learnt without a fall if taken at a very slow pace; […] if begun slowly and in the correct manner, it is not a figure which need cause a fall. This, unfortunately, cannot be said of the other heel turn, called the B turn, the pierre d'achoppement [stumbling block] of all skaters.”

“When you get a hammer in your hands and learn to turn faster, you will learn about the necessity of "sitting back" against the hammer pull at the low point so that your body weight will shift back to allow you to make the heel turn.”

“Heel turns are nearly a mirror image of toe turns: release the edge; pivot the back foot around the front; weight the heel edge and drive. […] First, keep your knees bent and driving forward with the turn. Many beginners push the board away from their bodies in a heel turn, straightening their legs in the process. Instinct tells them that that's the way to get the board on edge. Instead, drop your hips to the inside of the turn and drive with bent knees.”

“Most new riders find heel-turns easier to learn than toe-turns. It's purely psychological. The mind likes facing downhill in the direction of travel better than it likes facing uphill while the body is traveling downhill. Eventually both turns will feel equally good. (No, make that GREAT.)”

“As you enter the first turn, the plane of the hammer's orbit should be much flatter than that of the orbit during the winds. The orbital plane is also usually flatter when making a toe turn than when making a heel turn.”

“And on he strode into the opposite dark / Till presently the harsh heel's turn, a spark / I' the stone,[…]”

“"This gentleman may help you," he repeated, with his wooden hand wave and his usual rotund heel turn, which transported him indoors.”

“A heel-turn to the northwest in Utah, the Abajos stand up to be counted; farther west the Henry Mountain; and on the border of Arizona, the dark lump of Navajo Mountain, the ten-thousand-foot-high home of the Navajo Wargod.”

“Then he did a heel turn and strode out of the courtroom.”

“The security men nodded solemnly, executed a quick heel turn, then hurried off.”

“As a result of the heel turn, [Riki] Choshu was instantly elevated as a headliner and feuded with [Tatsumi] Fujinami in main events for two years over the WWF [World Wrestling Federation] International Heavyweight strap.”

“The early 1999 destruction of [Ric] Flair in storyline fashion, even as Flair and Hulk Hogan were drawing the last of the company's great buy rates (although Flair's heel turn after drawing the last big buy rate for a SuperBrawl in San Francisco was Flair's own doing) was not a bunch of angles that were bad ideas, such as the period he was confined to a nut house (and somehow even made that drivel entertaining).”

“More than any other episode to date, “The Last Of The Starks” heralds Daenerys’ heel turn. She’s been poised for it for some time, though the timing varies depending on the character perspective—Varys has always been ready to fly to another camp if he felt something was amiss or he just found a more viable candidate, while Tyrion [Lannister] and Jon [Snow] still want to serve her.”

CEFR level