gan

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.

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.

verb (used without object)

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

Origin:
1955–60; perhaps special use of gin¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To GAN

Collins

World English Dictionary

gan¹ (ɡæn)

—vb
	archaic, poetic or the past tense of gin

gan² (ɡæn)

—vb , gans, ganning, ganned
	dialect (Northeast English) (intr) to go

[from Old English gangan; related to Old Norse ganga. See gang¹]

gin¹ (dʒɪn)

—n
1.	an alcoholic drink obtained by distillation and rectification of the grain of malted barley, rye, or maize, flavoured with juniper berries
2.	any of various grain spirits flavoured with other fruit or aromatic essences: sloe gin
3.	an alcoholic drink made from any rectified spirit

[C18: shortened from Dutch genever juniper, via Old French from Latin jūniperusjuniper]

gin² (dʒɪn)

—n
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
4.	a hand-operated hoist that consists of a drum winder turned by a crank

—vb , gins, ginning, ginned
5.	to free (cotton) of seeds with a gin
6.	to trap or snare (game) with a gin

[C13 gyn, shortened from engine]

'ginner²

—n

gin³ (ɡɪn)

—vb , gins, ginning, gan, gun
	an archaic word for begin

gin⁴ (ɡɪn)

—*conj*
	(Scot) if

[perhaps related to gif, an earlier form of if]

gin⁵ (dʒɪn)

—n
	offensive, slang (Austral) an Aboriginal woman

[C19: from a native Australian language]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

gin

"type of distilled drinking alcohol," 1714, shortening of geneva, alt. (by influence of the Swiss city) from Du. genever "juniper" (because the alcohol was flavored with its berries), from O.Fr. genevre, from L. juniperus "juniper." Gin rummy first attested 1941.

gin

"machine for separating cotton from seeds," 1796, Amer.Eng., used earlier of various other machineries, from M.E. gin "ingenious device, contrivance" (c.1200), from O.Fr. gin "machine, device, scheme," aphetic form of engin, from L. ingenium (see engine).

gin

in slang phrase gin up "enliven, make more exciting," 1887, probably from earlier ginger up in same sense, from ginger in sense of "spice, pizzazz;" specifically in ref. to the treatment described in the 1811 slang dictionary under the entry for feague:

... to put ginger up a horse's fundament, and formerly, as it is said, a live eel, to make him lively and carry his tail well; it is said, a forfeit is incurred by any horse-dealer's servant, who shall shew a horse without first feaguing him. Feague is used, figuratively, for encouraging or spiriting one up.

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

GAN definition

Generating and Analyzing Networks. "GAN - A System for Generating and Analyzing Activity Networks", A. Schurmann, CACM 11(10) (Oct 1968).

American Heritage

Abbreviations & Acronyms

GIN
Greenland-Iceland-Norway

Easton

Bible Dictionary

Gin definition

a trap. (1.) Ps. 140:5, 141:9, Amos 3:5, the Hebrew word used, _mokesh_, means a noose or "snare," as it is elsewhere rendered (Ps. 18:5; Prov. 13:14, etc.). (2.) Job 18:9, Isa. 8:14, Heb. pah, a plate or thin layer; and hence a net, a snare, trap, especially of a fowler (Ps. 69: 22, "Let their table before them become a net;" Amos 3:5, "Doth a bird fall into a net [pah] upon the ground where there is no trap-stick [mokesh] for her? doth the net [pah] spring up from the ground and take nothing at all?", Gesenius.)

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia

gan

people of the southeast coast of Ghana, speaking a dialect of the Kwa branch of Niger-Congo languages. The Ga are descended from immigrants who came down the Niger River and across the Volta during the 17th century. The Ga-speaking peoples were organized into six independent towns (Accra, Osu, Labadi, Teshi, Nungua, and Tema). Each town had a stool, which served as the central object of Ga ritual and war magic. Accra became the most prominent Ga town and is now the capital of Ghana

Learn more about Gan with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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Matching Quote

"For which he wex a litel red for shame,
Whan he the peple upon him herde cryen,
That to beholde it was a noble game,
How sobreliche he caste doun his yen.
Criseyda gan al his chere aspyen,
And let so softe it in her herte sinke
That to herself she seyde, "Who yaf me drinke?""

-Geoffrey Chaucer

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