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Webster 1913 Edition

Gin

Gin

,
p
rep.
[AS.
ge
á
Noun.
See
Again
.]
Against; near by; towards;
as,
gin
night
.
[Scot.]
A. Ross (1778).

Gin

,
c
onj.
[See
Gin
,
prep
.]
If.
[Scotch]
Jamieson.

Gin

(gĭn)
,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Gan
(găn)
,
Gon
(gŏn), or
Gun
(gŭn);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Ginning
.]
[OE.
ginnen
, AS.
ginnan
(in comp.), prob. orig., to open, cut open, cf. OHG. in
ginnan
to begin, open, cut open, and prob. akin to AS.
gīnan
to yawn, and E.
yawn
. √31. See
Yawn
,
Verb.
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)
,
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)
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

,
Verb.
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 1828 Edition

Gin

GIN

,
Noun.
A contraction of Geneva, a distilled spirit. [See Geneva.]

GIN

,
Noun.
[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, &c., 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

,
Verb.
T.
To clear cotton of its seeds by a machine which separates them with expedition.
1.
To catch in a trap.

GIN

,
Verb.
I.
To begin.

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