gan

US: (gan)

From the verb gin: (⇒ conjugate)

gan is: ⓘ

v past (For the sense meaning "begin" only)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

gan  (gan), v. 

1. pt. of gin ³.

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

gin¹ /dʒɪn/   n. 

1. Wine a clear, colorless alcoholic liquor distilled with juniper berries and other flavorings:
   [uncountable] bought some gin.
   [countable] bought a gin and tonic.

gin⁴ /dʒɪn/   n. [uncountable]

1. Games Also called gin rummy. a card game, a variety of rummy for two players.
2. Games a hand in this game in which the cards are matched in sets, winning extra points.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

gin¹  (jin), n. 

1. Wine an alcoholic liquor obtained by distilling grain mash with juniper berries.
2. Wine an alcoholic liquor similar to this, made by redistilling spirits with flavoring agents, esp. juniper berries, orange peel, angelica root, etc.

• shortened from geneva 1705–15

gin²  (jin), n., v., ginned, gin•ning. 
n. 

1. Textiles See cotton gin. 
2. a trap or snare for game.
3. Mechanical Engineering any of various machines employing simple tackle or windlass mechanisms for hoisting.
4. Mechanical Engineering a stationary prime mover having a drive shaft rotated by horizontal beams pulled by horses walking in a circle.

v.t. 

5. Textiles to clear (cotton) of seeds with a gin.
6. to snare (game).

• Middle English gyn, aphetic variant of Old French engin engine 1150–1200

gin′ner, n. 

gin³  (gin), v.i., v.t., gan, gun, gin•ning. [Archaic.]

1. to begin.

• Middle English ginnen, Old English ginnan, aphetic variant of onginnan, beginnen to begin 1150–1200

gin⁴  (jin), n., v., ginned, gin•ning. [Cards.]
n. 

1. Games Also called gin rummy. a variety of rummy for two players, in which a player with 10 or fewer points in unmatched cards can end the game by laying down the hand.
2. Games the winning of such a game by laying down a full set of matched cards, earning the winner a bonus of 20 or 25 points.

v.i. 

3. Games to win a game in gin by laying down a hand in which all 10 cards are included in sets.

• perh. special use of gin¹ 1955–60

gin⁵  (gin), conj. [Chiefly Scot. and Southern Appalachian.]

1. Dialect Terms, Scottish Terms if;
   whether.

• 1665–75; variously explained as sense development of gien given (see gie, -en³); as contraction of gif if + an² (compare iffen); or as aphetic form of again

gin⁶  (jin), n. [Australian Informal.]

1. British Terms a female Aborigine.
2. British Terms an Aboriginal wife.

Also, jin. 

• Dharuk di-yin
• 1820–30

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

gin / dʒɪn/ noun

1. an alcoholic drink obtained by distillation and rectification of the grain of malted barley, rye, or maize, flavoured with juniper berries

Etymology: 18th Century: shortened from Dutch genever juniper, via Old French from Latin jūniperus juniper

gin / dʒɪn/ noun

1. a primitive engine in which a vertical shaft is turned by horses driving a horizontal beam or yoke in a circle
2. Also called: cotton gin a machine of this type used for separating seeds from raw cotton
3. a trap for catching small mammals, consisting of a noose of thin strong wire

verb (gins, ginning, ginned)(transitive)

1. to free (cotton) of seeds with a gin
2. to trap or snare (game) with a gin

Etymology: 13th Century gyn, shortened from engine

gin / ɡɪn/ verb (gins, ginning, gan, gun)

1. an archaic word for begin

gin / dʒɪn/ noun

1. an Aboriginal woman

Etymology: 19th Century: from a native Australian language