GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found 6 definitions

  1.       
    Gin (?), prep. [AS. geán. See Again.] Against; near by; towards; as, “gin night”. [Scot.]  A. Ross (1778).

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  2.       
    Gin, conj. [See Gin, prep.] If. [Scotch]  Jamieson.

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  3.       
    Gin (gĭn), v. 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. 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.

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  4.       
    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.

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  5.       
    Gin (?), n. [A contraction of engine.]

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    1. Contrivance; artifice; a trap; a snare. Chaucer. Spenser.

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    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.

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    3. A machine for separating the seeds from cotton; a cotton gin.

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    ☞ The name is also given to an instrument of torture worked with screws, and to a pump moved by rotary sails.

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    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.

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  6.       
    Gin, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ginned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Ginning.]
    1. To catch in a trap. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.

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    2. To clear of seeds by a machine; as, “to gin cotton”.

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