gin \gin\, n. a contraction of engine.
   1913 webster
   1. contrivance; artifice; a trap; a snare. --chaucer.
      spenser.
      1913 webster

   2.
      a a machine for raising or moving heavy weights,
          consisting of a tripod formed of poles united at the
          top, with a windlass, pulleys, ropes, etc.
      b mining a hoisting drum, usually vertical; a whim.
          1913 webster

   3. a machine for separating the seeds from cotton; a cotton
      gin.
      1913 webster

   note: the name is also given to an instrument of torture
         worked with screws, and to a pump moved by rotary
         sails.
         1913 webster

   gin block, a simple form of tackle block, having one wheel,
      over which a rope runs; -- called also whip gin,
      rubbish pulley, and monkey wheel.

   gin power, a form of horse power for driving a cotton gin.
      

   gin race, or gin ring, the path of the horse when putting
      a gin in motion. --halliwell.

   gin saw, a saw used in a cotton gin for drawing the fibers
      through the grid, leaving the seed in the hopper.

   gin wheel.
      a in a cotton gin, a wheel for drawing the fiber through
          the grid; a brush wheel to clean away the lint.
      b mining the drum of a whim.
          1913 webster
see also:
gin block whip gin rubbish pulley monkey wheel gin power gin race 
gin ring gin saw gin wheel