gin Meaning, Definition & Usage

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

WordNet

Gin preposition
Etymology
AS. geán. See Again.
Definitions
  1. Against; near by; towards; as, gin night. Scot. A. Ross (1778).
Gin conjunction
Etymology
See Gin, prep.
Definitions
  1. If. Scotch Jamieson.
Gin intransitive verb
Etymology
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. ginan to yawn, and E. yawn. See Yawn, v. i., and cf. Begin.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Gan Gon (), ∨ Gun (); present participle & verbal noun Ginning
Definitions
  1. To begin; -- often followed by an infinitive without to; as, gan tell. See Gan. Obs. or Archaic "He gan to pray." Chaucer.
Gin noun
Etymology
Contr. from Geneva. See 2d Geneva.
Definitions
  1. 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
Etymology
A contraction of engine.
Definitions
  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. ✍ The name is also given to an instrument of torture worked with screws, and to a pump moved by rotary sails.
Gin transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Ginned ; present participle & verbal noun Ginning
Definitions
  1. To catch in a trap. Obs. Beau. & Fl.
  2. To clear of seeds by a machine; as, to gin cotton.

Webster 1913