gin

verb

ˈjin 

ginned; ginning

transitive verb

1

: to come up with : generate

—usually used with up

gin up enthusiasm

2

: to separate (cotton fiber) from seeds and waste material

3

: snare

ginner noun

Examples of gin in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The state and county will have to gin up money as well. —Bill Kearney, Sun Sentinel, 23 May 2026

In the days leading up to the festival, Riley was in energetic contact with Neon’s publicity team, ginning up promotions in full Barnum mode. —Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker, 17 May 2026

There is, of course, a playbook that publishers and authors use to try to gin up enough sales at the beginning of a new book's life to launch it onto the list. —Willa Rubin, NPR, 1 May 2026

Cotton linters—the short fibers left on cottonseed after ginning—can be processed into nitrocellulose, a highly volatile, nitrogen-rich material known as guncotton that’s used as a primary ingredient in solid rocket propellants for ballistic missiles. —Jasmin Malik Chua, Footwear News, 27 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1583, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Phrases Containing gin

• bathtub gin
• cotton gin
• gin mill
• gin rummy
• sloe gin

Rhymes for gin

• been
• bin
• chin
• din
• djinn
• fin
• finn
• grin
• in
• kin
• linn
• linne

Kids Definition

gin

1 of 3 noun

ˈjin 

: cotton gin

gin

2 of 3 verb

ginned; ginning

: to separate (cotton fiber) from seeds and waste material

ginner noun

gin

3 of 3 noun

: a clear strong alcoholic liquor flavored with juniper berries

Etymology

Middle English gin "a mechanical device, skill, trick," from early French engin (same meaning), from Latin ingenium "natural ability or desire to do something, inborn ability," from in "in" and -genium, from gignere "to father, beget" — related to engine, genius, ingenious

an altered form of earlier geneva "gin (liquor)," from obsolete Dutch genever, literally, "juniper"