"gin" - meanings, definitions, synonyms, thesaurus and antonyms

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

\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. 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.

\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.

\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.

\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.