Gin

Gin, prep. [AS. geán. See Again.] Against; near by; towards; as, gin night. [Scot.] A. Ross.

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

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. gīnan to yawn, and E. yawn. √31 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.

Gin (jĭn), 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.

Gin (jĭn), 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.

☞ 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.

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.