[A contraction of engine.] A machine or instrument by which the mechanical powers are employed in aid of human strength. The word is applied to various engines, as a machine for driving piles, another for raising weights, etc., and a machine for separating the seeds from cotton, invented by E. Whitney, is called a cotton-gin. It is also the name given to an engine of torture, and to a pump moved by rotary sails.

1. A trap; a snare.

To clear cotton of its seeds by a machine which separates them with expedition.

1. To catch in a trap.

To begin.