gan

[gan]

verb

simple past tense of gin³.

gin

[jin]

noun

cotton gin.

a trap or snare for game.

any of various machines employing simple tackle or windlass mechanisms for hoisting.

a stationary prime mover having a drive shaft rotated by horizontal beams pulled by horses walking in a circle.

verb (used with object), ginned, gin·ning.

to clear (cotton) of seeds with a gin.

to snare (game).

Origin of gin

1150–1200; Middle English gyn, aphetic variant of Old French engin engine

Related formsgin·ner, noun

gin

[gin]

verb (used with or without object), gan, gun, gin·ning. Archaic.

to begin.

Origin of gin

1150–1200; Middle English ginnen, Old English ginnan, aphetic variant of onginnan, beginnen to begin

gin

⁴

[jin]Cards.

noun

Also called gin rummy. a variety of rummy for two players, in which a player with 10 or fewer points in unmatched cards can end the game by laying down the hand.

the winning of such a game by laying down a full set of matched cards, earning the winner a bonus of 20 or 25 points.

verb (used without object), ginned, gin·ning.

to win a game in gin by laying down a hand in which all 10 cards are included in sets.

Origin of gin

⁴

First recorded in 1955–60; perhaps special use of gin¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for gan

Contemporary Examples of gan

Hannah and the others with GAN would have at least a chance where there had been no chance at all.
The Shutdown’s Human Cost: A Family’s Hopes at NIH Put on Hold
Michael Daly
October 12, 2013
As with other GAN kids, numbness is accompanied by an unusual sensitivity.
The Shutdown’s Human Cost: A Family’s Hopes at NIH Put on Hold
Michael Daly
October 12, 2013
“Eight weeks in the life of a child with GAN is huge,” Lori says.
The Shutdown’s Human Cost: A Family’s Hopes at NIH Put on Hold
Michael Daly
October 12, 2013
The young James had a lot of irreverent fun with the idea of the Great American Novel—the GAN, as he called it.
Is Henry James’s ‘The Portrait of a Lady’ the Great American Novel?
Michael Gorra
August 30, 2012

Historical Examples of gan

Then gan they from the wooing / strive to turn the noble thane.
The Nibelungenlied
Unknown
Then gan he cast his glances / on the Lady Kriemhild lovingly.
The Nibelungenlied
Unknown
Then gan straightway Siegfried / the country's custom to declare.
The Nibelungenlied
Unknown
Then from his horse alighted / the knight of spirit high, And gan a running after.
The Nibelungenlied
Unknown
Then gan the monarch hasten / where he did find the lady fair.
The Nibelungenlied
Unknown

British Dictionary definitions for gan

gan

verb

archaic, or poetic the past tense of gin 3

gan

verb gans, ganning or ganned

(intr) Northeast English dialect to go

Word Origin for gan

from Old English gangan; related to Old Norse ganga. See gang 1

gin

noun

an alcoholic drink obtained by distillation and rectification of the grain of malted barley, rye, or maize, flavoured with juniper berries

any of various grain spirits flavoured with other fruit or aromatic essencessloe gin

an alcoholic drink made from any rectified spirit

Word Origin for gin

C18: shortened from Dutch genever juniper, via Old French from Latin jūniperus juniper

gin

noun

a primitive engine in which a vertical shaft is turned by horses driving a horizontal beam or yoke in a circle

Also called: cotton gin a machine of this type used for separating seeds from raw cotton

a trap for catching small mammals, consisting of a noose of thin strong wire

a hand-operated hoist that consists of a drum winder turned by a crank

verb gins, ginning or ginned (tr)

to free (cotton) of seeds with a gin

to trap or snare (game) with a gin

Derived Formsginner, noun

Word Origin for gin

C13 gyn, shortened from engine

gin

verb gins, ginning, gan or gun

an archaic word for begin

gin

⁴

conjunction

Scot if

Word Origin for gin

perhaps related to gif, an earlier form of if

gin

⁵

noun

Australian offensive, slang an Aboriginal woman

Word Origin for gin

C19: from a native Australian language

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for gan

gin

v.1

in slang phrase gin up "enliven, make more exciting," 1887, probably from earlier ginger up in same sense (1849), from ginger in sense of "spice, pizzazz;" specifically in reference to the treatment described in the 1811 slang dictionary under the entry for feague:

... to put ginger up a horse's fundament, and formerly, as it is said, a live eel, to make him lively and carry his tail well; it is said, a forfeit is incurred by any horse-dealer's servant, who shall shew a horse without first feaguing him. Feague is used, figuratively, for encouraging or spiriting one up.

gin

v.2

"to begin," c.1200, ginnen, shortened form of beginnen (see begin).

gin

n.1

"type of distilled drinking alcohol," 1714, shortening of geneva, altered (by influence of the similarity of the name of the Swiss city, with which it has no other connection) from Dutch genever "juniper" (because the alcohol was flavored with its berries), from Old French genevre, from Vulgar Latin *jeniperus, from Latin juniperus "juniper" (see juniper). Gin and tonic attested by 1873; gin-sling by 1790. Card game gin rummy first attested 1941 (described in "Life" that year as the latest Hollywood fad).

gin

n.2

"machine for separating cotton from seeds," 1796, American English, used earlier of various other machineries, from Middle English gin "ingenious device, contrivance" (c.1200), from Old French gin "machine, device, scheme," shortened form of engin, from Latin ingenium (see engine). The verb in this sense is recorded from 1789.