gin
nounnounverbverbnounconjunctioncommon in dialogue
- //d͡ʒɪn//
- //ɡɪn//
A colourless non-aged alcoholic liquor made by distilling fermented grains such as barley, corn, oats or rye with juniper berries; the base for many cocktails.
noun
- 1
A colourless non-aged alcoholic liquor made by distilling fermented grains such as barley, corn, oats or rye with juniper berries; the base for many cocktails.
- 2
Gin rummy.
- 3
Drawing the best card or combination of cards.
Johnny Chan held jack-nine, and hit gin when a queen-ten-eight board was dealt out.
Etymology
Abbreviation of geneva, alteration of Dutch genever (“juniper”) from Old French genevre (modern French genièvre), from Vulgar Latin ziniperus, from Latin iūniperus (“juniper”). Hence gin rummy (first attested 1941).
noun
- 1
obsoleteA trick; a device or instrument.
- 2
obsoleteA scheme; contrivance; artifice; a figurative trap or snare.
The church dores were sparred, Fast boltyd and barryd, Yet wyth a prety gyn I fortuned to come in, […]
treason and deceiptfull gin
- 3
A snare or trap for game.
It was the cry of a rabbit caught in a gin.
- 4
A machine for raising or moving heavy objects, consisting of a tripod formed of poles united at the top, with a windlass, pulleys, ropes, etc.
- 5
A hoisting drum, usually vertical; a whim.
- 6
A pile driver.
- 7
A windpump.
- 8
A cotton gin.
- 9
An instrument of torture worked with screws.
Etymology
Partly from Middle English gin, ginne (“cleverness, scheme, talent, device, machine”), from Old French gin, an aphetism of Old French engin (“engine”); and partly from Middle English grin, grine (“snare, trick, stratagem, deceit, temptation, noose, halter, instrument”), from Old English grin, gryn, giren (“snare, gin, noose”).
verb
- 1
To remove the seeds from cotton with a cotton gin.
- 2
To trap something in a gin.
verb
- 1
archaicTo begin.
Gon. All three of them are deſperate : their great guilt / (Like poyſon giuen to worke a great time after) / Now gins to bite the ſpirits :[…]
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English ginnen (“to begin”), contraction of beginnen.
noun
- 1
An Aboriginal woman.
His next shot was discharged amongst the mob, and most unfortunately wounded the gin already mentioned ; who, with a child fastened to her back, slid down the bank, and lay, apparently dying, with her legs in the water.
On December 28, in the same year [1828], he [John Allen] fought single handed a tribe of native blacks, numbering from thirteen to eighteen, besides "gins" to bring them spears, waddies, etc.
1894, Ivan Dexter, Talmud: A Strange Narrative of Central Australia, published in serial form in Port Adelaide News and Lefevre's Peninsula Advertiser (SA), Chapter XXI, http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks16/1600641.txt From my position I could see the gins pointing back, and as the men turned they looked for a moment and then made a wild rush for the entrance.
How they must have laughed about the strutting of her whose mother was a wanton and aunt a gin!
Etymology
Borrowed from Dharug dyin (“woman”), but having acquired a derogatory tone.
conjunction
- 1
If.
[…]for pronouncing according as one would ſay at London I would eat more cheeſe if I had it, the Northern man ſaith, Ay ſuld eat mare cheeſe gin ay hadet, and the Weſterne man ſaith Chud eat more cheeſe an chad it.
Gin the plough rests on the bank, / The loom, the nation, dies.
An' gin I'm weel and can keep sober / You may look for it in October.
He's get han' and siller, / Gin he fancies me.
Etymology
Cognate to Scots gin (“if”): perhaps from gi(v)en, or a compound in which the first element is from Old English ġif (English if) and the second is cognate to English an (“if”) (compare iffen), or perhaps from again.
Forms
- plural
- gins
- past tense
- ginned, gan
- past participle
- ginned, gun
- present participle
- ginning
- third person singular
- gins
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