cotton gin

noun

1. a machine for separating the fibers of cotton from the seeds.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cotton gin¹

An Americanism dating back to 1790–1800

Example Sentences

Keeping up with the pace of technology has challenged Congress since the steam engine and the cotton gin transformed the nation’s industrial and agricultural sectors.

From Seattle Times

A foreman, he ran the Hermitage cotton gin—an important position on the farm, where cotton was a cash crop.

From Literature

Mechanical cotton gins facilitated the 19th century expansion of slavery in the American South.

From Reuters

After torturing him, they shot him in the head and tied a 75-pound cotton gin fan to his neck with barbed wire and threw his body into the Tallahatchie River.

From New York Times

Till was abducted and days later his body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, where he had been tossed after he was shot and weighted down with a cotton gin fan.

From Seattle Times