Gin

(jĭn), n. [Contracted and corrupted from Geneva. See GENEVA.] A distilled spirit or alcoholic liquor, manufactured in Holland from rye and barley, and flavored with juniper berries and sometimes with hops.

n. [A contraction of engine.] 1. A machine or instrument by which the mechanical powers are employed in aid of human strength; especially, a machine consisting of a tripod formed of poles united at the top, one of them being longer than the rest, and called the pry-pole, with a windlass, pulleys, ropes, &c., for raising or moving heavy weights, lifting ores from mines, hauling cannon, and like purposes;—also, a machine for separating the seeds from cotton, called hence a cotton-gin;—the name is also given to an instrument of torture, and to a pump moved by rotary sails.

2Sense 2. A trap; a snare. [Obs.] “Treason and deceitful gin.” Spenser.

[A-S. ginnan, gynnan. See BEGIN.] To begin. [Obs.] Spenser.