GIN (gan, ginned, ginning)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: gan    , ginned    , ginning   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does gin mean? 

• GIN (noun)
  The noun GIN has 4 senses:

1. strong liquor flavored with juniper berries

2. a trap for birds or small mammals; often has a slip noose

3. a machine that separates the seeds from raw cotton fibers

4. a form of rummy in which a player can go out if the cards remaining in their hand total less than 10 points

  Familiarity information: GIN used as a noun is uncommon.

• GIN (verb)
  The verb GIN has 2 senses:

1. separate the seeds from (cotton) with a cotton gin

2. trap with a snare

  Familiarity information: GIN used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Strong liquor flavored with juniper berries

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("gin" is a kind of...):

booze; hard drink; hard liquor; John Barleycorn; liquor; spirits; strong drink (an alcoholic beverage that is distilled rather than fermented)

Meronyms (substance of "gin"):

juniper berries (berrylike cone of a common juniper; used in making gin)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gin"):

bathtub gin (homemade gin especially that made illegally)

sloe gin (gin flavored with sloes (fruit of the blackthorn))

geneva; Holland gin; Hollands (gin made in the Netherlands)

Holonyms ("gin" is a substance of...):

gin and tonic (gin and quinine water)

martini (a cocktail made of gin (or vodka) with dry vermouth)

gin and it (a cocktail made of gin and sweet vermouth)

pink lady (a cocktail made of gin and brandy with lemon juice and grenadine shaken with an egg white and ice)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A trap for birds or small mammals; often has a slip noose

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

gin; noose; snare

Hypernyms ("gin" is a kind of...):

trap (a device in which something (usually an animal) can be caught and penned)

Meronyms (parts of "gin"):

slipknot (a knot at the end of a cord or rope that can slip along the cord or rope around which it is made)

Derivation:

gin (trap with a snare)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A machine that separates the seeds from raw cotton fibers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

cotton gin; gin

Hypernyms ("gin" is a kind of...):

machine (any mechanical or electrical device that transmits or modifies energy to perform or assist in the performance of human tasks)

Derivation:

gin (separate the seeds from (cotton) with a cotton gin)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A form of rummy in which a player can go out if the cards remaining in their hand total less than 10 points

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

gin; gin rummy; knock rummy

Hypernyms ("gin" is a kind of...):

rum; rummy (a card game based on collecting sets and sequences; the winner is the first to meld all their cards)

• GIN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they gin    ... he / she / it gins   
Past simple: ginned   
Past participle: ginned   
-ing form: ginning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Separate the seeds from (cotton) with a cotton gin

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "gin" is one way to...):

disunite; divide; part; separate (force, take, or pull apart)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

gin (a machine that separates the seeds from raw cotton fibers)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Trap with a snare

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

gin game

Hypernyms (to "gin" is one way to...):

ensnare; entrap; snare; trammel; trap (catch in or as if in a trap)

Domain category:

hunt; hunting (the pursuit and killing or capture of wild animals regarded as a sport)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

gin (a trap for birds or small mammals; often has a slip noose)

 Context examples 

Orris root oil is used as a perfume ingredient and as an ingredient in gin.

(Orris Root Extract, NCI Thesaurus)

“Here’s Joe Berks drinkin’ gin out of a mug, and you know what a swine he is when he’s drunk.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify a taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the theatre, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Gin we were nigh a ship, or a port, or a headland, a fog fell on us and travelled wi' us, till when after it had lifted and we looked out, the deil a thing could we see.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Trade gin, I should think.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She had a woman to take care of her called Mrs. Poole—an able woman in her line, and very trustworthy, but for one fault—a fault common to a deal of them nurses and matrons—she _kept a private bottle of gin by her_, and now and then took a drop over-much.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But I apprehend that we were personally fortunate in engaging a servant with a taste for cordials, who swelled our running account for porter at the public-house by such inexplicable items as quartern rum shrub (Mrs. C.); Half-quartern gin and cloves (Mrs. C.); Glass rum and peppermint (Mrs. C.)—the parentheses always referring to Dora, who was supposed, it appeared on explanation, to have imbibed the whole of these refreshments.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The old man poured a glass of neat gin down his shrivelled throat, and the effect upon him was extraordinary.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The legend added that the only person who did not identify them was the Doctor himself, who, when they were shortly afterwards displayed at the door of a little second-hand shop of no very good repute, where such things were taken in exchange for gin, was more than once observed to handle them approvingly, as if admiring some curious novelty in the pattern, and considering them an improvement on his own.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It is excusable, for she had a hard life of it: but still it was dangerous; for when Mrs. Poole was fast asleep after the gin and water, the mad lady, who was as cunning as a witch, would take the keys out of her pocket, let herself out of her chamber, and go roaming about the house, doing any wild mischief that came into her head.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)