gin

¹ American  

[jin] / dʒɪn /

noun

1. an alcoholic liquor obtained by distilling grain mash with juniper berries.

2. an alcoholic liquor similar to this, made by redistilling spirits with flavoring agents, especially juniper berries, orange peel, angelica root, etc.

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gin ² American  

[jin] / dʒɪn /

noun

1. cotton gin.

   Did Whitney's invention of the gin actually enable an expansion in the slave trade?

2. a trap or snare for game.

   They learned how to devise a simple gin for catching rabbits and quail and such.

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

   She finished developing her father's design of a gin that would facilitate safer movement of large parts in the manufacturing plant.

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

   The gins were activated by teams of horses to power the pulley system that hauled the coal out of the mines.

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verb (used with object)

ginned, ginning

1. to clear (cotton) of seeds with a gin.

   The weather's fine today for ginning cotton.

2. to snare (game).

   Hey! Looks like you ginned a woodcock.

gin ³ American  

[gin] / gɪn /

verb (used with or without object)

gan, gun, ginning

1. Archaic. to begin.

   At twilight, gin we our leave.

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gin ⁴ American  

[jin] / dʒɪn /

noun

1. 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.

   They get together ever Tuesday for a friendly game of gin.

2. 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.

   Sorry, but that's gin for me again.

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verb (used without object)

ginned, ginning

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

   How many times has she ginned tonight?

gin ⁵ American  

[gin] / gɪn /

conjunction

Chiefly Scot. and Southern Appalachian.

1. if; whether.

   It's a beast of a river to cross, gin ye dare.

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gin ⁶ American  

[jin] / dʒɪn /

Or jin

noun

Australian Informal: Offensive.

1. an Aboriginal woman.

2. an Aboriginal wife.

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gin ¹ British  

/ dʒɪn /

noun

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

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

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

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

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verb

1. to free (cotton) of seeds with a gin

2. to trap or snare (game) with a gin

gin ² British  

/ dʒɪn /

noun

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

2. any of various grain spirits flavoured with other fruit or aromatic essences

   sloe gin

3. an alcoholic drink made from any rectified spirit

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gin ³ British  

/ ɡɪn /

verb

1. an archaic word for begin

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gin ⁴ British  

/ ɡɪn /

conjunction

1. if

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gin ⁵ British  

/ dʒɪn /

noun

1. offensive an Aboriginal woman

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Other Word Forms

• ginner
  noun

Etymology

Origin of gin¹

First recorded in 1705–15; shortened from geneva, alteration of Dutch genever “gin,” literally “juniper” (because the liquor was flavored with juniper berries), from Old French genevre “juniper plant,” from assumed Vulgar Latin jeniperus, from Latin juniperus

Origin of gin²

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English gyn, shortened variant of Old French engin “innate quality, clever invention”; see origin at engine

Origin of gin³

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English ginnen, Old English ginnan, shortened variant of onginnan, beginnen “to begin”; see begin

Origin of gin⁴

First recorded in 1955–60; perhaps special use of gin ¹, a shortening of the variant gin rummy, recorded in 1940–45

Origin of gin⁵

First recorded in 1665–75; variously explained as sense development of gien “given” ( see gie, -en ³); as contraction of gif ( see if, an ²; cf. iffen); or as a shortening of again

Origin of gin⁶

First recorded in 1790–1800; from Dharuk di-yin, diyin “woman, old woman”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gin gan ginned ginning gun

Eastside Girls, meanwhile, is a tender depiction of Muna's neighbourhood, lovingly lampooning the staples of LA hipster culture – astrology, polyamory, roommate dramas and "negronis with the nice gin".

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

But the silence has catalyzed non-Swiftie onlookers to gin up something decisively, inarguably odious to place at the singer’s feet.

From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026

“It’s too late now to gin up something to harm a competitor,” Bill Savitt, a lawyer for OpenAI, had argued in his opening statement.

From MarketWatch ● May 18, 2026

Technology, geopolitics, and economics have aligned to gin up excitement on Wall Street about the potential swirling above the clouds.

From Barron's ● Apr. 13, 2026

They make their choices the way my dad moves cards around in his gin rummy hand.

From "Al Capone Does My Shirts" by Gennifer Choldenko

Along the way, I acquired some new words in Korean, like bangsaneung for radiation and gan for liver.

From Slate ● Mar. 6, 2023

Datganiad o gefnogaeth gan yr Urdd i ffoaduriaid Wcráin.

From BBC ● Mar. 21, 2022

Then there’s the city’s signature dish, hot dry noodles, or re gan mian.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 6, 2020

Then the cousin laughed and they gan bei-ed.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 11, 2019

I read him most of chapter 1, up to the part where the young warrior Sohrab comes to his mother, Tahmineh, the princess of Samen- gan, and demands to know the identity of his father.

From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini

Traffic has stalled and customers didn’t respond to promotions it ginned up in the spring.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026

McCartney, 15, ginned up the courage to approach Lennon after his set; their bond was forged over a mutual passion for Little Richard and Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 2025

Spotify users who have been amused by these thrice-daily servings of word salad might be surprised — or, just as likely, not — to learn that the playlist names are ginned up by A.I.

From New York Times ● Jan. 24, 2024

No drop of human drama hasn’t been ginned.

From Salon ● Nov. 28, 2023

White suspected that Hale had ginned up the document while trying to obtain the insurance policy, and altered it after realizing that he had blundered on the date.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

It refers to ginning up the gene pool through tools like gene editing and A.I. enhancement, the argument being that manipulating genes can make us better, faster, smarter.

From Slate ● Mar. 19, 2026

The administration is ginning up more beef demand, too.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026

Meanwhile, Horowitz and Inciardi started ginning up alternate stories of how Sanders got hold of the manuscripts, Manhattan prosecutors say.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2024

Musk started ginning up transparently bogus excuses to place the deal “on hold,” even though the merger agreement gave him no such option.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2022

Just as well, as the campaign to bring me up to domestic scratch was, without my knowledge or cooperation, ginning up in earnest.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly

Roebuck immediately recognized the long gun in the man’s gloved hands.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

"You start with a pistol, and then you get a shotgun, then you get a machine gun," Cregger explained.

From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026

Then came what appeared to be the evidentiary smoking gun: a lettuce sample that tested positive for Cyclospora.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

Brook arrived when Razaullah was pushing the speed gun, and the England vice-captain also had to battle his recent weakness with the wicketkeeper standing up.

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

“Fischer had a gun to our heads,” he later said, explaining the abrupt termination of one of the most important American chess matches ever played.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

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