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gin

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Besides the two words below, English has an archaic verb gin, to begin, shortened from begin,[1][2][3] and a Scots and dialect conjunction gin, if.[4][1]

Pronunciation

gin1 trap, machine

Etymology

The trap or machine is inherited from Middle English gin, also gyn,[6][7][2] probably borrowed from Anglo-Norman gin, also ginne, a variant with the prefix lost of engin,[1] which is also Old French engin (“skill; contrivance, machine”).[1][2][8][3][9] Most dictionaries call it an aphetic form of the French word,[8][3][7][10] and Barnhart takes it from the Old French short form gin, noting that the fuller engine is not recorded in English until about 1275.[11] The Anglo-Norman gin is recorded from the first third of the 13th century for machinery, a machine or a siege engine, and engin from 1113–19 for intelligence, skill, cunning, a device, a machine and a trap.[12] Weekley traces the French word to Latin ingenium.[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Skill or ingenuity, and in a bad sense cunning or craft: about 1175, in the Ormulum.[1] The Middle English Dictionary likewise lists inventive talent and cleverness, also skill in magic, as the first sense.[6] Barnhart and Etymonline date the word to about 1200.[11][2]

Semantic evolution

From skill the word passed to the products of skill: a scheme, device or trick (about 1275), an affair or happening (about 1330), and a snare, net or trap for game (before 1300), the sense that lasted longest.[1] It was also used of tools (about 1300), instruments of torture such as the rack (about 1225), siege engines that hurled stones (about 1325) and, from about 1400, of any mechanical device.[1][3] Chaucer used it six times, for a contrivance, a trick or a trap.[14] Middle English also had the adjective ginful, ingenious or crafty, from about 1300.[6][2] Johnson (1755) gave "a trap; a snare" as its first sense, quoting Sidney and Spenser.[15] From late Middle English it named a hoisting apparatus, especially a three-legged crane, and then from the late 17th century, in mining, a windlass worked by horses or wind;[3] in northern English and Scottish dialect it was still used in the 19th century for an engine worked by horses, a threshing machine or a hoist in a coal pit.[16] The best-known modern sense, a machine for separating cotton from its seeds, is first recorded in 1740 in American English according to Barnhart,[11] in 1796 according to Etymonline,[2] and the verb "to remove the seeds from cotton" in 1700, in an act of Montserrat.[1] In the United States the verb, with up, came to mean to produce something by effort (1883) and to stir up or intensify (1887);[1] Etymonline suggests that gin up may rather, or also, come from the verb ginger.[2] In Black American slang the threshing action of a cotton gin gave ginning, a beating, and gin, to fight (1938).[17]

Timeline

  • c. 1175 – skill, ingenuity, cunning (obsolete by 1665).[1]
  • c. 1225 – an instrument of torture, the rack.[1]
  • c. 1275 – a contrivance, scheme or trick.[1]
  • before 1300 – a snare or trap for game.[1]
  • c. 1325 – a siege engine for hurling stones.[1]
  • c. 1400 – a mechanical device, a machine.[1]
  • 1583 – verb, to catch in a trap.[1]
  • 1700 – verb, to remove the seeds from cotton.[1]
  • 1740 – a cotton gin, in American English.[11]
  • 1883 – gin up, to produce by effort (US).[1]
  • 1887 – gin up, to stir up, intensify (US).[1][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A machine that separates cotton fibres from the seeds; a cotton gin.[4][3]
  2. A machine for hoisting heavy weights, such as a tripod of poles with a windlass and pulleys.[4][3]
  3. A snare or trap for catching game.[4][3][1]
  4. (mining) A windlass worked by horses or wind, for pumping or lifting.[3][16]
  5. (obsolete, c. 1175–1665) Skill or ingenuity; also cunning, craft.[1][3]
  6. (obsolete, c. 1225–1659) An instrument of torture, especially the rack.[1][3]
  7. (obsolete, c. 1325–1650) A siege engine for hurling stones.[1][3]

Verb

  1. To separate cotton fibre from its seeds with a gin: The planters ginned the whole harvest in a week.[4][3][1]
  2. To catch in a trap; to ensnare.[4][3]
  3. gin up (US, informal): to produce or work up, often hastily; to stir up or intensify: The campaign tried to gin up interest in the vote.[4][1]

Word family

  • ginner
  • cotton gin

gin2 spirit

Etymology

The spirit is a shortening of geneva, the earlier English name of the drink (1706),[11][18][9][19][4] or of genever, the form the OED derives it from.[1][3] That name is borrowed from Dutch genever, also jenever, juniper,[11][2][18] from Middle Dutch geniver (“juniper”),[20] Old French genevre (“juniper”),[2][11][9][19] recorded in Anglo-Norman from about 1200,[12] from Vulgar Latin *jeniperus,[2][11] from Latin iūniperus (“juniper”),[2][11][20][13] because the spirit was flavoured with juniper berries.[2][13][9] In English the name was altered under the influence of the name of the Swiss city of Geneva, with which the drink has no connection,[2][18][9][19] although Barnhart finds that association difficult to establish.[11] Weekley compares the shortening, a sign of frequent use, with brandy, rum and whisky.[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

A strong spirit distilled from grain or malt and flavoured with juniper: 1713, in a letter from Dick Estcourt.[1][4] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1714.[11][2]

Semantic evolution

According to Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, British soldiers returning from wars in the Low Countries brought home both the Dutch drink and its name; the clipped form gin arose in 18th-century England, when clipping was a popular way of coining slang words, and soon named a cheap British liquor as well, not necessarily flavoured with juniper.[18] Barnhart likewise notes that the English drink had no association with the plant.[11] Weekley finds geneva and gin used indifferently about 1700.[13] Gin drinking among the poor became a serious social problem: Pope noted in 1738 that the liquor "had almost destroyed the lowest rank of the People till it was restrained by an act of Parliament in 1736",[18] and Etymonline quotes the historian Lecky, who dated the spread of the passion for gin among the masses to about 1724.[2] The word formed many names of drinks and places: gin-sling (1790), gin-palace, a gaudy tavern (1831), gin-mill, a low saloon in the US (1872), gin and tonic (1873) and gin-fizz (1878).[2] A drink or glass of gin is recorded from 1884,[1] and gin for the card game gin rummy from 1946 in the OED,[1] while Etymonline dates gin rummy itself to 1941, when Life described it as the latest fad in Hollywood.[2] A verb gin, to drink gin or get drunk on it, is recorded from 1789, and in the US gin up, to get drunk, from 1881.[1]

Timeline

  • 1706 – geneva, the spirit.[11][18]
  • 1713 – gin, the spirit.[1][4]
  • 1714 – first date in Barnhart and Etymonline.[11][2]
  • 1766 – names of mixed drinks such as gin and water.[1]
  • 1789 – verb, to drink gin or become drunk.[1]
  • 1790 – gin-sling.[2]
  • 1831 – gin-palace.[2]
  • 1872 – gin-mill, US slang for a low saloon.[2]
  • 1873 – gin and tonic.[2]
  • 1884 – a drink or glass of gin.[1]
  • 1941 – gin rummy.[2]
  • 1946 – gin, short for gin rummy.[1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A clear strong spirit distilled from grain and flavoured with juniper berries and other botanicals: He ordered a gin with lime.[21][4][1]
  2. A drink or glass of gin.[1][3]
  3. Any of various grain spirits flavoured with other fruits, as in sloe gin.[21][4]
  4. Gin rummy, a form of rummy for two players.[1][3][4]

Verb

  1. gin up (US, informal): to get drunk on gin or other liquor.[1][3]

Word family

  • ginny
  • bathtub gin
  • gin and tonic
  • gin mill
  • pink gin
  • sloe gin
  • gin rummy
  • gin sling

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  12. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  13. ^ a b c d e Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  16. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  17. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  18. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  19. ^ a b c Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  20. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  21. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins