Gin
Gin , preposition
[Anglo-Saxon geán. See Again.]
Against; near by; towards; as, gin night. [Scottish] — A. Ross (1778)
Gin , conjunction
[See Gin, prep.]
If. [Scotch] — Jamieson
Gin (gin) , intransitive verb
[Old English ginnen, Anglo-Saxon ginnan (in comp.), prob. orig., to open, cut open, compare Old High German inginnan to begin, open, cut open, and prob. akin to Anglo-Saxon gīnan to yawn, and English yawn. r31. See Yawn, v. i., and compare Begin.]
To begin; -- often followed by an infinitive without to; as, gan tell. See Gan. [Obsolete or Archaic]
He gan to pray.
Gin (jin) , noun
[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.
Gin , noun
[A contraction of engine.]
1.
Contrivance; artifice; a trap; a snare. — Chaucer. Spenser
2.
(a) (Mining) 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.
The name is also given to an instrument of torture worked with screws, and to a pump moved by rotary sails.
Collocations (5)
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 (Mining) , (a) In a cotton gin, a wheel for drawing the fiber through the grid; a brush wheel to clean away the lint. the drum of a whim.
Gin , transitive verb
1.
To catch in a trap. [Obsolete] — Beau. & Fl
2.
To clear of seeds by a machine; as, to gin cotton.