gin mill

American  

[jin] / dʒɪn /

noun

Slang.

1. a bar or saloon, especially a cheap or disreputable one.

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Etymology

Origin of gin mill

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65

Example Sentences

It took meeting Norma, a young beauty in a gin mill in the Queens neighborhood of Jackson Heights, to steer him toward acting.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 19, 2023

Classing up a gin mill with Bentwood chairs and imitation Tiffany lamps—set dressing the part of a homey establishment, as it were—Stillman built the first of the great singles bars.

From Slate • Jan. 21, 2013

The story was a natural: the victim had worked as a dice girl in a gin mill and she had been married just two days.

From Time Magazine Archive

Somewhere between Los Angeles and Georgia, a freelance writer was motorcycling to an assignment, unaware that his editors had been fired and were commiserating in a Manhattan gin mill.

From Time Magazine Archive

Saloon bar, for instance, is intended to designate a rather aristocratic place, above the public bar; while the lowest "gin mill" in the United States would be called a "saloon."

From Walking-Stick Papers by Holliday, Robert Cortes