What does the word turned mean in the sentence He turned the dirt with his shovel?
"He turned the dirt" is a short way of saying, "He turned over
the dirt", meaning that he dug the shovel into the dirt, lifted the
dirt up, and turned it over, or upside down. This is the ages-old
method of preparing soil for planting. These days, dirt is 'turned
over' with the use of tractor-pulled plows.