gin
Pluralgins
Pluralgins
- 1A clear, strong alcoholic drink made from grain, with a taste that comes from juniper berries.
The bartender poured gin over ice and added tonic water.
That store sells gin in tall glass bottles next to the wine.
UsageSay a gin and tonic or two gins.
- 2A machine that pulls the seeds out of cotton.
Like a comb pulling knots out of hair: but it pulls seeds out of cotton instead.
The farmer took his cotton to the gin at the edge of town.
The gin pulled out the seeds much faster than people could by hand.
- 3A card game for two players where you collect groups of matching cards.
Grandma taught us to play gin on rainy afternoons.
He won three games of gin in a row after dinner.
UsageSay play gin, like play cards.
Note
- 4To take the seeds out of cotton with a special machine.
Workers gin the cotton before it goes to the mill.
The new machine can gin a full wagonload in minutes.
UsageWrite ginned and ginning with two n's.
Less common meanings
- 5Getting the best card, or the best set of cards, you could hope for in a game.
She got gin when she picked up the last card she needed.
In the poker game, he hit gin when the last card he needed came up.
UsageSay hit gin or catch gin.
Note
- 6
- 7
- 8Means 'if'. People use it mostly in Scottish talk and old songs.
Wheeah, Ah thinks thee could, gin ye tried.
1870, John Christopher Atkinson, LostHe's get han' and siller, / Gin he fancies me.
1815, Robert Anderson, Ballads in the Cumberland dialectSimilarif
Note
- 9A very offensive word for an Aboriginal woman in Australia.
In the past, some settlers called Aboriginal women "gins", which is offensive.
"Gin" is an old, hurtful word for an Aboriginal woman.
UsageSay Aboriginal woman instead.
Note
- 10SayGIN/ɡɪn/To start, or to begin doing something.
Note
- 11An old word for a trick or trap.
treason and deceiptfull gin
1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie QueeneHere, gin means a trick or trap meant to deceive.Note
- 12To catch an animal in a trap or snare.
- 13A machine that hammers long, heavy posts down into the ground.
- 14A machine that uses the wind to pump water up from the ground.
- 15A machine used long ago to hurt prisoners by turning its screws.
Showing meanings only.
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Origins
A short form of "geneva," which came from a Dutch word meaning "juniper."
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Gin is a shortened form of geneva. en.wiktionary.org
- Geneva derives from a Dutch word meaning juniper. en.wiktionary.org
It comes partly from a Middle English word meaning "cleverness or device" and partly from another meaning "snare or trap."
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Gin derives partly from Middle English gin or ginne, meaning cleverness or device. en.wiktionary.org
- Gin derives partly from another Middle English word, grin or grine, meaning snare or trap. en.wiktionary.org
It comes from a Middle English word meaning "to begin," a shortened form of "beginnen."
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Gin comes from Middle English ginnen, meaning "to begin". en.wiktionary.org
- The Middle English word is a shortened form of beginnen. en.wiktionary.org
It was borrowed from the Dharug word "dyin" meaning "woman," but it took on an insulting tone.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- English gin was borrowed from Dharug dyin, meaning woman. en.wiktionary.org
- The borrowed word acquired an insulting tone. en.wikipedia.org
It is related to Scots "gin" (if), and may come from "given," or from Old English "ġif" (if), or perhaps from "again."
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- It is related to Scots gin, meaning “if”. en.wiktionary.org
- It may come from given. en.wiktionary.org
- It may derive from Old English ġif, meaning “if”, proposed as an element of a compound. en.wiktionary.org
- It may come from again. en.wiktionary.org