Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A machine that separates the seeds, seed hulls, and other small objects from the fibers of cotton.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A machine used in separating the seeds from cotton fibers. The earliest cotton-gin was the saw-gin, invented by Eli Whitney (1765–1825) in 1792. In this the fiber rests upon or against a grid, into the openings of which project the teeth of a gang of saws mounted upon a revolving mandrel. The teeth of the saws catch the fibers and draw them away from the seeds. The latter, being too large to pass through the openings, roll downward and out of the machine. The fibers, removed from the saws by a revolving brush, pass between rollers, and are delivered from the machine in the form of a lap. Other and similar machines have projecting needles, or hooked or covered wire teeth, instead of saws. In the roller-gin the fibers are drawn between rollers guarded by blades which prevent the passage of the seeds. Another form has an intermittent action, the fibers being held between nipping blades and the seeds pushed clear from them, fiber and seed being delivered in different directions.
Wiktionary
- n. A machine used for separating cotton fibers from cotton seeds, etc.
- n. slang Any mechanism that separates one person from another, whether it be distance, time, or apathy
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. a machine to separate the seeds from cotton, invented by Eli Whitney.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a machine that separates the seeds from raw cotton fibers
Examples
“DEAR SIR, -- The bearer hereof is Mr. Whitney at Connecticut a mechanic of the first order of ingenuity, who invented the cotton gin now so much used in the South; he is at the head of a considerable gun manufactory in Connecticut, and furnishes the U.S. with muskets undoubtedly the best they receive.”
“The energy-sucking machines involved include a cotton gin that separates the fiber from the seeds, stems, and leaves, followed by machines that bundle the fibers into bales so they can be transported elsewhere, where more machines undo the bales, fluff the cotton, and press it into sheets called laps.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cotton gin’.
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Cotton
"The popular name of several species of Gossypium, natural order Malvaceæ, from which the well-known textile substance cotton is obtained. The genus is indigenous to both hemispheres, and the plant...
cotton, Cotton, cotton gin, King Cotton, Levant cotton, Cotton Mather, Cotton Club, Egyptian cotton, pima cotton, Gossypium, short-staple cotton, upland cotton and 20 more...
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Loaded Words Part Deux: Two Words Tha...
See also the list Loaded Words (wordnik.com/lists/loaded-words). Two ordinary words (i.e. not proper nouns--Berlin wall or Utah beach wouldn't fit here) that not only combine to make a third concep...
cotton gin, wagon trail, gold rush, democratic republic, wounded knee, wage slavery, rat race, manifest destiny, eminent domain, pork barrel, gateway drug, talking points and 43 more...
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