gin1
/dʒɪn
/noun
1 [mass noun] A clear alcoholic spirit distilled from grain or malt and flavoured with juniper berries.Favor clear spirits like vodka and gin over darker-colored alcohols like whiskey, brandy or red wine....
- The quantities of the common spirits, such as gin, rum, vodka and whisky are controlled too.
- France had higher tax rates for spirits which were based on grain, such as whisky, rum, gin, and vodka, than those which were based on wine or fruit, such as cognac, Calvados, and Armagnac.
2 (also gin rummy) A form of the card game rummy in which a player holding cards totalling ten or less may terminate play.It generates revenues by hosting online backgammon, gin rummy and blackjack, as well as staging golf, darts and pool games....
- As a sideline he was a classical violinist, a master bridge player and a demon at gin rummy, but golf was where he got his kicks.
- We sat around for a long time playing gin rummy in the hay, when we heard what sounded like a pig's squeal.
Origin
Early 18th century: abbreviation of genever.
Rhymes
gin2
/dʒɪn/noun
1A machine for separating cotton from its seeds.At the gin, fiber is separated from the seed and cleaned....
- Roller gins vied with saw gins for the fuzzy-seed market into the 1820s and remained the preferred gin for long-staple cotton.
- This local textile company has had success with its trial crop of cotton and will now be installing a gin to process the raw material as well.
2A machine for raising and moving heavy weights.The horse gin was a horse-driven winding machine used to raise coal in tubs or baskets.
3 (also gin trap) A trap for catching birds or small mammals.She was rescued by the RSPCA after becoming caught in an illegal gin trap....
- For the next 33 years he lived in a room under the house and if anyone came near, he speared them with a pitchfork, whacked them over the head with a farming instrument or caught them in a man-sized gin trap.
- This horrific picture shows a cat lying in enormous distress, her front leg severed by a vicious and illegal gin trap.
verb (gins, ginning, ginned) [with object]
Treat (cotton) in a gin.The country's largest ginneries were only utilising 24 and 54 per cent of their respective ginning capacity, and only 40 per cent of the seed cotton was ginned into cotton lint....
- The cooperative ginned a record supply of cotton, topping 16,000 bales.
- Producers in south-central Kansas are ginning a crop once unheard of in their state.
Phrasal verbs
gin someone up
gin something up
Derivatives
ginner
- Readers with a knowledge of the historical literature will find a familiar cast of characters, including growers large and small, tenants and sharecroppers, merchants and ginners, and state and federal officials.
- The meeting brought together representatives of farmers' groups, assemblers, ginners research and extension systems and other stakeholders to identify underlying causes of the current crisis facing the cotton industry.
- The price of cotton for the current season's crop has been cut by almost 50 per cent following a decision by ginners to adjust the producer price due to the appreciation of the Kwacha against other convertible currencies.
ginnery
- There are close to one million farmers involved in the production of cotton country-wide and a few hundred workers employed at ginneries.
- He observed that while in 1995 there was only one ginnery in the Eastern Province, there were now seven, a development that had led to employment creation for the local people.
- They had not been paid for the past two months, and the ginnery where they work has been sold to new management without their knowledge.
Origin
Middle English (in the sense 'a tool or device, a trick'): from Old French engin (see engine).
gin3
/dʒɪn/noun Australian offensive
An Aboriginal woman.
Origin
From Dharuk diyin 'woman, wife'.