Adjacent Words

Gin definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

GIN, n. A contraction of Geneva, a distilled spirit. [See Geneva.]
GIN, n. [A contraction of engine.] A machine or instrument by which the mechanical powers are employed in aid of human strength. The word is applied to various engines, as a machine for driving piles, another for raising weights, etc., and a machine for separating the seeds from cotton, invented by E.Whitney, is called a cotton-gin. It is also the name given to an engine of torture, and to a pump moved by rotary sails.
1. A trap; a snare.
GIN, v.t. To clear cotton of its seeds by a machine which separates them with expedition.
1. To catch in a trap.
GIN, v.i. To begin.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: strong liquor flavored with juniper berries
2: a trap for birds or small mammals; often has a slip noose [syn: snare, gin, noose]
3: a machine that separates the seeds from raw cotton fibers [syn: cotton gin, gin]
4: a form of rummy in which a player can go out if the cards remaining in their hand total less than 10 points [syn: gin, gin rummy, knock rummy] v
1: separate the seeds from (cotton) with a cotton gin
2: trap with a snare; "gin game"

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (gan; ginning) Etymology: Middle English ginnen, short for beginnen Date: 13th century archaic begin II. noun Etymology: Middle English gin, from Anglo-French, short for engin — more at engine Date: 13th century any of various tools or mechanical devices: as a. a snare or trap for game b. cotton gin III. transitive verb (ginned; ginning) Date: 1606 1. snare 2. to separate (cotton fiber) from seeds and waste material 3. to come up with ; generate — usually used with up <gin up support for the policy> • ginner noun IV. conjunction Etymology: perhaps by contraction from dialect gif if + an if Date: 1580 dialect if V. noun Etymology: by shortening & alteration from geneva Date: 1713 1. a colorless alcoholic beverage made from distilled or redistilled neutral grain spirits flavored with juniper berries and aromatics (as anise and caraway seeds) 2. a. gin rummy b. the act of laying down a full hand of matched cards in gin rummy • ginny adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. an alcoholic spirit distilled from grain or malt and flavoured with juniper berries. Phrases and idioms: gin rummy a form of the card-game rummy. Etymology: abbr. of GENEVA 2. n. & v. --n. 1 a snare or trap. 2 a machine for separating cotton from its seeds. 3 a kind of crane and windlass. --v.tr. (ginned, ginning) 1 treat (cotton) in a gin. 2 trap. Derivatives: ginner n. Etymology: ME f. OF engin ENGINE 3. n. Austral. an Aboriginal woman. Etymology: Aboriginal

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Gin Gin, prep. [AS. ge['a]n. See Again.] Against; near by; towards; as, gin night. [Scot.] --A. Ross (1778).

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Gin Gin, conj. [See Gin, prep.] If. [Scotch] --Jamieson.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Gin Gin, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Gan, Gon (?), or Gun (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Ginning.] [OE. ginnen, AS. ginnan (in comp.), prob. orig., to open, cut open, cf. OHG. inginnan to begin, open, cut open, and prob. akin to AS. g[=i]nan to yawn, and E. yawn. ? See Yawn, v. i., and cf. Begin.] To begin; -- often followed by an infinitive without to; as, gan tell. See Gan. [Obs. or Archaic] ``He gan to pray.'' --Chaucer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Gin Gin, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ginned; p. pr. & vb. n. Ginning.] 1. To catch in a trap. [Obs.] --Beau. & Fl. 2. To clear of seeds by a machine; as, to gin cotton.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Gin Gin, n. [Contr. from Geneva. See 2d Geneva.] A strong alcoholic liquor, distilled from rye and barley, and flavored with juniper berries; -- also called Hollands and Holland gin, because originally, and still very extensively, manufactured in Holland. Common gin is usually flavored with turpentine.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Gin Gin, n. [A contraction of engine.] 1. Contrivance; artifice; a trap; a snare. --Chaucer. Spenser. 2. (a) A machine for raising or moving heavy weights, consisting of a tripod formed of poles united at the top, with a windlass, pulleys, ropes, etc. (b) (Mining) A hoisting drum, usually vertical; a whim. 3. A machine for separating the seeds from cotton; a cotton gin. Note: The name is also given to an instrument of torture worked with screws, and to a pump moved by rotary sails. Gin block, a simple form of tackle block, having one wheel, over which a rope runs; -- called also whip gin, rubbish pulley, and monkey wheel. Gin power, a form of horse power for driving a cotton gin. Gin race, or Gin ring, the path of the horse when putting a gin in motion. --Halliwell. Gin saw, a saw used in a cotton gin for drawing the fibers through the grid, leaving the seed in the hopper. Gin wheel. (a) In a cotton gin, a wheel for drawing the fiber through the grid; a brush wheel to clean away the lint. (b) (Mining) the drum of a whim.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(gins) Gin is a strong colourless alcoholic drink made from grain and juniper berries. N-MASS • A gin is a glass of gin. ...another gin and tonic. N-COUNT

Easton's Bible Dictionary

a trap. (1.) Ps. 140:5, 141:9, Amos 3:5, the Hebrew word used, _mokesh_, means a noose or "snare," as it is elsewhere rendered (Ps. 18:5; Prov. 13:14, etc.).

(2.) Job 18:9, Isa. 8:14, Heb. pah, a plate or thin layer; and hence a net, a snare, trap, especially of a fowler (Ps. 69: 22, "Let their table before them become a net;" Amos 3:5, "Doth a bird fall into a net [pah] upon the ground where there is no trap-stick [mokesh] for her? doth the net [pah] spring up from the ground and take nothing at all?", Gesenius.)

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

jin (moqesh, pach): A noose of hair or wire for snaring wild birds alive. There are over half a dozen traps and net devices indicated by different terms in the Bible. The gin was of horse-hair for small birds and wire for larger ones. It is mentioned in Am 3:5: "Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is set for him? shall a snare spring up from the ground, and have taken nothing at all?" Job writing in mental and physical discomfort on the ash heap included all methods mentioned in one outburst:

"For he is cast into a net by his own feet.

And he walketh upon the toils.

A gin shall take him by the heel,

And a snare shall lay hold on him,

A noose is hid for him in the ground.

And a trap for him in the way" (Job 18:8 ).

Gene Stratton-Porter

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Geneva. 2. Machine, crane, whim, windlass, whim-gin, whimsey, whin. 3. Cotton-gin. 4. Trap, snare, net, toils, noose, springe. II. v. a. 1. Pass through the gin, clear of seeds (as cotton). 2. Catch in a gin, capture, snare. III. v. n. [Archaic or poetical.] Begin, commence.

Moby Thesaurus

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