a kind of malt spirit flavoured with the essential oil of juniper. The process of making it is described under Distillation, vol. viii, p. 51. The inferior spirit sold as gin is said to be flavoured with turpentine instead of juniper, and rendered biting to the palate by caustic potash.

in Mechanics, a contrivance for raising heavy weights, driving piles, &c., which consists of three spars set up in a pyramidal form, and furnished at top with a tackle which is worked by a windlass beneath. The name gin is also applied to a machine with which the fibres of cotton are disentangled, by means of a series of revolving spikes. This operation is termed ginning.