1
: a colorless alcoholic beverage made from distilled or redistilled neutral grain spirits flavored with juniper berries and aromatics (such as anise and caraway seeds)
2
a
b
: the act of laying down a full hand of matched cards in gin rummy
ginned; ginning
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
dialect
: if
Examples of gin in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Sabrina Weiss, Peoplemag, 22 May 2024
The classic Bronx is a full pour of gin, and about half that much of sweet vermouth, dry vermouth, and orange juice.
—Jason O'Bryan, Robb Report, 18 May 2024
The humans, who had a selection of beer and gin and tonics at several concession stands, had more varied results.
—Callie Holtermann, New York Times, 13 May 2024
Thirty years ago, Snoop Dogg was sipping on gin and juice, with his mind on his money and his money on his mind.
—Chuck Schilken, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2024
The new beverage is made with all natural, gluten free ingredients, including Big Heart gin and will be available at the Pride Festival taking place June 8, as well as various bars, restaurants and retailers over the coming weeks.
—Cheryl V. Jackson, The Indianapolis Star, 3 May 2024
Make two batches — one for the gin loyalists, one for the vodka apologists — and put them out on ice alongside glassware, preskewered stuffed olives, pickled onions and cornichons, bitters and brine, and twisted citrus peels for a communal cocktail hour.
—Tanya Sichynsky, New York Times, 15 Apr. 2024
During the grand opening weekend, bartenders will tap an imperial saison aged in gin barrels for the occasion, and thereafter the brewery anticipates starting a weekly Kölsch service, a German tradition that includes continuous beer delivery to each drinker.
—Tiney Ricciardi, The Denver Post, 26 Apr. 2024
Who else needs a gin and tonic to cool down from Scott's fiery words?
—Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 4 Apr. 2024
Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 1 May 2024
But Bravo wouldn’t be the first network to use liquor to gin up some drama.
—Maer Roshan, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 May 2024
Using the alias, Berman also posted fake messages about the biotech firm to investors on message boards to gin up enthusiasm and artificially pump up the company’s stock price.
—Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 13 Apr. 2024
After shaking and straining lemon juice, simple syrup, and gin into a glass, top with bubbly and garnish with lemon peel and a sprig of rosemary.
—Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 28 Mar. 2024
Some Republicans have speculated that Swift is some sort of Pentagon plant, ginned up by secret liberal forces to swing the 2024 presidential election while also boosting the fortunes of the Kansas City Chiefs, who are headed into the Super Bowl with Swift's boyfriend, Travis Kelce, a tight end.
—Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY, 1 Feb. 2024
Netflix, Prime Video, Peacock, Hulu, Paramount+ and Max have ginned up a wide variety of streaming options for movie lovers of all tastes.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 15 Mar. 2024
To gin up activity in France and Germany, Reddit staffers quietly scraped popular English-language submissions and translated them.
—Paresh Dave, WIRED, 14 Mar. 2024
As the most traditional of award shows returned to its roots as a glorified trade affair (ginned up 96 years ago as a way of pacifying above-the-line talent in the wake of the unionizing then gaining a foothold in moviedom), praise was near universal for the return to old Hollywood glamour.
—Guy Trebay, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2024
Noun
The two ads focus on the Connecticut distillery’s bourbon and gin, respectively, while playing into the fact that the state is not known for its spirits.
—Sabrina Weiss, Peoplemag, 22 May 2024
The classic Bronx is a full pour of gin, and about half that much of sweet vermouth, dry vermouth, and orange juice.
—Jason O'Bryan, Robb Report, 18 May 2024
The humans, who had a selection of beer and gin and tonics at several concession stands, had more varied results.
—Callie Holtermann, New York Times, 13 May 2024
Thirty years ago, Snoop Dogg was sipping on gin and juice, with his mind on his money and his money on his mind.
—Chuck Schilken, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2024
The new beverage is made with all natural, gluten free ingredients, including Big Heart gin and will be available at the Pride Festival taking place June 8, as well as various bars, restaurants and retailers over the coming weeks.
—Cheryl V. Jackson, The Indianapolis Star, 3 May 2024
Make two batches — one for the gin loyalists, one for the vodka apologists — and put them out on ice alongside glassware, preskewered stuffed olives, pickled onions and cornichons, bitters and brine, and twisted citrus peels for a communal cocktail hour.
—Tanya Sichynsky, New York Times, 15 Apr. 2024
During the grand opening weekend, bartenders will tap an imperial saison aged in gin barrels for the occasion, and thereafter the brewery anticipates starting a weekly Kölsch service, a German tradition that includes continuous beer delivery to each drinker.
—Tiney Ricciardi, The Denver Post, 26 Apr. 2024
Who else needs a gin and tonic to cool down from Scott's fiery words?
—Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 4 Apr. 2024
Verb
Zachary Mueller at America’s Voice has calculated that $100 million has already been spent to gin up anti-immigration rhetoric by the Republican Party during this election cycle.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 1 May 2024
But Bravo wouldn’t be the first network to use liquor to gin up some drama.
—Maer Roshan, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 May 2024
Using the alias, Berman also posted fake messages about the biotech firm to investors on message boards to gin up enthusiasm and artificially pump up the company’s stock price.
—Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 13 Apr. 2024
After shaking and straining lemon juice, simple syrup, and gin into a glass, top with bubbly and garnish with lemon peel and a sprig of rosemary.
—Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 28 Mar. 2024
Some Republicans have speculated that Swift is some sort of Pentagon plant, ginned up by secret liberal forces to swing the 2024 presidential election while also boosting the fortunes of the Kansas City Chiefs, who are headed into the Super Bowl with Swift's boyfriend, Travis Kelce, a tight end.
—Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY, 1 Feb. 2024
Netflix, Prime Video, Peacock, Hulu, Paramount+ and Max have ginned up a wide variety of streaming options for movie lovers of all tastes.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 15 Mar. 2024
To gin up activity in France and Germany, Reddit staffers quietly scraped popular English-language submissions and translated them.
—Paresh Dave, WIRED, 14 Mar. 2024
As the most traditional of award shows returned to its roots as a glorified trade affair (ginned up 96 years ago as a way of pacifying above-the-line talent in the wake of the unionizing then gaining a foothold in moviedom), praise was near universal for the return to old Hollywood glamour.
—Guy Trebay, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gin.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near gin
Cite this Entry
“Gin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gin. Accessed 28 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
gin
1 of 3 noungin
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
Noun
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
Noun
an altered form of earlier geneva "gin (liquor)," from obsolete Dutch genever, literally, "juniper"
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share