An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

1) A container or machine in which cream or milk is agitated to make butter.
2) To shake or agitate with violence or continued motion (Dictionary.com).

M.E. chirne, O.E. cyrne cyr(i)n; cognate with M.L.G. kerne, O.N. kjarni, kirna, may be related to → kernel because of the "grainy" appearance of churned cream.

Gavis "churn," of unknown origin.

In → galactic dynamics models, the process of gaining or losing → angular momentum by stars mostly at the → Lindblad resonances without gaining random motion. Figuratively, transient → spiral waves in → galactic disks churn the stars and gas in a manner that largely preserves the overall angular momentum distribution and leads to little increase in random motion. Churning is the main reason for → radial migration of stars. See also → blurring (J. A. Sellwood & J. J. Binney, 2002, astro-ph/0203510 and references therein).

Verbal noun of → churn.