▪ I. ginger, n. and a.1
(ˈdʒɪndʒə(r))
Forms: 1 ᵹingiber, ᵹingifer(e, 3 gingivere, (3 gingevir, 4 gyngure, gyngyvre), 4–6 gynger(e, 5 gingere, gyngour, gyngevere, (zenzyber, gingivre, -ver, gyngangre, -yre), 4– ginger.
[The OE. ᵹingiber, ᵹingifer(e are directly a. late L. gingiber = the earlier zingiber(i, a. Gr. ζιγγίβερις, app. a. Prakrit siŋgabēra:—Skr. {cced}ṛŋgavēra, which has the appearance of a compound of {cced}ṛŋga horn and vēra body, but is supposed by Yule to be an etymologizing perversion (suggested by the antler-like form of the root) of a Dravidian name, a prehistoric form of the Malayalam synonym inchi-ver (f. inchi root). The ME. forms seem to be readoptions chiefly through OF. gimgibre, gingimbre (mod.F. gingembre) = Pr. gingibre, gingebre, Sp. gengibre, agengibre, Pg. gengivre, It. zenzevero, zenzero, gengero, gengiovo.
Other forms of this widely diffused word are Arab. zanjabīl (already in the Koran); MDu. gengber (from Sp. or Pg.) whence Du. gember; also (with loss of the initial consonant as in Ger. enzian from L. gentiāna) MHG. ingewer (Ger. ingwer), MLG. engewer, Da. ingefær, Sw. ingefära.]
A. n.
1. The rhizome of the tropical plant Zingiber officinale, remarkable for its hot spicy taste; used when dried and ground in cookery and as a medicine; also preserved in syrup or candied as a sweetmeat. black ginger: the unscraped root, from the E. Indies. white ginger: the scraped root, from Jamaica, often artificially bleached. green ginger: the undried root, usually in preserve.
ginger colombyne (quot. c 1460), ginger from Quilon (L. Columbum); g. valadyne and g. maydelyn, mentioned in the same quot., have not been identified.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 56 Wiþ seaðan recels lytel swefl, sweᵹles æppel weax ᵹingifer. c 1205 Lay. 17745 Muchel canele & gingiuere & licoriz he hom lefliche ȝef. c 1305 Land Cokaygne 73 in E.E.P. (1862) 158 Þe rote is gingeuir and galingale. c 1366 Durham MS. Cell. Roll, In Ginger emp. in villa, xxd. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxcv. (1495) 731 Gynger hyghte Zinziber: and is the rote of an herbe. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. i. 21 Þenne take whyte Gyngere, and Galyngale, & Canel fayre y-mynced. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 131 Good gynger colombyne is best to drynke and ete. Gynger valadyne & maydelyn ar not so holsom in mete. 1463 in Bury Wills (1850) 40 My silvir forke for grene gyngour. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 90 Ginger is not the roote of pepper as som haue iudged. 1599 H. Buttes Dyets drie Din. O ij b, Greene Ginger, condite with hony, warmes olde mens bellyes. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iii. 126 Yes by S. Anne, and Ginger shall bee hotte y' th mouth too. 1611 ― Wint. T. iv. iii. 50, I must have..a Race or two of Ginger. 1676 Grew Anat. Plants, Exper. Luctation i. §11. 240 Ginger makes a small Bullition with Aqua fortis, only observable by a Glass. 1707 Lond. Gaz. No. 4319/3 With Annotto, lower'd to 8d. per lb. and Black Ginger to 15s. per C. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 243 To candy Ginger. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 420 Dried ginger has a pungent aromatic odour, and a hot biting taste. 1870 Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 151 Jamaica ginger is considered to be the best. |
2. a. The plant
Zingiber officinale.
| ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 1369 Ther was eek wexing many a spyce..Gingere, and greyn de paradys. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 20 Ginger groweth in Calicut. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 265 The ginger groweth like vnto our garlike. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xi. 118 This order contains several interesting plants, such as ginger, etc. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 91 Ginger..is an elegant, reed-like tropical plant. |
b. applied to plants of other species.
| 1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 894 Amomum granum paradisi. The fruit of this species of ginger, known by the name of grains of paradise, is used in India. 1866 Treas. Bot. 531/2 Amada Ginger, Curcuma Amada. Egyptian Ginger, Colocasia esculenta. Indian Ginger, Asarum canadense. Mango Ginger, Curcuma Amada. Wild Ginger, Asarum canadense. Wood Ginger, an old name for Anemone ranunculoides. |
3. slang. a. fig. Mettle, spirit.
| 1843 Haliburton Attaché I. xv. 261 Curb him [a horse], talk Yankee to him, and get his ginger up. 1889 A. C. Gunter That Frenchman! xvi, Look at her eyes—see 'em flash now—there's ginger for you! 1890 ― Miss Nobody of Nowhere 124 If father objects send him to me, I'll take the ginger out of him in short order! |
b. A showy, fast horse.
| 1825 Westmacott English Spy I. 86 If you want to splash along in glory with a ginger. [Explained in a footnote.] |
4. dial. and
slang. a. A light sandy colour, resembling that of ginger.
| 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. ii, Mature young gentleman; with..too much ginger in his whiskers. 1889 N.W. Linc. Gloss. (ed. 2), Ginger, a light red or yellow colour, applied to the hair. |
b. A cock with reddish plumage; also, a red-haired or sandy-haired person.
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue s.v. Ginger-pated, Red cocks are called gingers. 1797 Sporting Mag. IX. 338 In cocking, I suppose you will not find a better breed of gingers. 1857 H. Ainsworth Spendthrift xvi. 109 Examining the cocks, and betting with each other..this backing a grey, that a ginger. 1885 in Eng. Illustr. Mag. June 605 There is..‘Ginger’, the red-haired, who [etc.]. |
5. (by) ginger!: a mild expletive.
U.S.| 1865 Lowell Lett. (1894) I. 348 There, by ginger! I meant to give the merest hint of a sentiment, and I have gone splash into a moral. |
6. attrib. and
Comb. a. simple attributive, as
ginger biscuit,
ginger-colour,
ginger-cookie,
ginger-jar,
ginger-root,
ginger-sauce,
ginger-tea;
b. objective, as
ginger-drinking,
† ginger-grate;
c. parasynthetic and similative, as
ginger-coloured,
ginger-faced,
ginger-hackled,
ginger-haired,
ginger-red adjs.| 1845 E. Acton Mod. Cookery (ed. 2) xxiii. 519 Cheap *ginger biscuits. 1969 D. Gray Murder on Honeymoon xvi. 98 A plate piled with ginger biscuits. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Gynger coloure, after a whyte russet, melinus. |
| 1880 Harper's Mag. Mar. 576/1 Aunty'll give you *ginger-cookey this very minute! 1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel 445 He started to think about the smell of gingercookies. |
| 1894 Daily News 10 July 6/2 *Ginger-drinking is also a new form of alcoholomania. |
| 1897 Ibid. 30 Sept. 6/3 Mr. Bigelow has nothing but contempt for the ‘*ginger-faced’ Portuguese. |
| 1530 Palsgr. 225/1 *Gynger grate, ratisseur a gingembre. |
| 1839 H. Ainsworth J. Sheppard ii. xii, Somebody may be on the watch—perhaps that old *ginger-hackled Jew. |
| 1895 Daily News 10 Dec. 5/1 She is usually what an old writer calls ‘a *ginger-haired hussy’. |
| 1895 Times 4 Feb. 4/6 A thousand pounds has been given for a *ginger jar. |
| 1811 Sporting Mag. XXXVIII. 63 The cocks are in colour, all alike, what sportsmen call *ginger-red. |
| 1831 J. Davies Manual Mat. Med. 153 Long pepper and *ginger root. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 537 *Gynger sawce to lambe, to kyd, pigge, or fawn in fere. |
| 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 491 The beverage [should] consist chiefly of coffee, *ginger tea and acidulated waters. |
d. attrib. or as adj. Applied to a group, person, etc., which provides the ‘ginger’, spirit, or stimulus of a party or movement;
esp. in
ginger group.
| 1923 G. D. H. Cole Workshop Organiz. 37 A ‘ginger’ organization within the Trade Union movement. 1927 Punch 9 Mar. 269/1 The ‘ginger group’ of Conservative social reformers. 1944 H. Croome You've gone Astray ii. 18 This little ginger group campaigning for better houses. 1958 Manch. Guardian 1 Aug. 6/7 (headline) Ginger grouper. Ibid., One of a small ginger group of Left-wing Catholics. 1965 Economist 29 May 1039/1 The Ministry of Public Building and Works was reorganised into a ginger-ministry designed to co-ordinate Britain's industrial building systems. 1970 New Society 5 Feb. 210/2 The appearance of ginger groups to fight specific proposals, is not necessarily a bad thing—particularly if the established bodies aren't prepared to fight. |
7. Special comb., as
ginger-ale, an effervescing beverage flavoured with ginger;
ginger-brandy, a cordial prepared by steeping bruised ginger in brandy;
ginger-cake, a cake flavoured with ginger; gingerbread in the form of a cake;
† ginger-comfit [a.
OF. gingebre confit], preserved ginger;
ginger-cordial (see
quot.); hence
ginger-cordial vb.;
ginger-fern, a kind of fern growing in Jamaica;
ginger-grass, (
a)
Andropogon Nardus, an aromatic East Indian grass, yielding an essential oil with a strong smell of ginger; (
b)
Panicum glutinosum, a coarse grass of Jamaica;
ginger lily = garland-flower (b);
ginger-mad a. ?
nonce-wd., hotly excited;
ginger-nob slang, a red-haired person; also, the head of such a person;
ginger-nut = gingerbread-nut;
ginger-plant = ginger n. 2; see also
quot. 1880;
ginger-race, a root of ginger;
ginger-snap, (
a) a thin brittle cake flavoured with ginger, (
b) (
U.S.) a hot-tempered person,
esp. one with carroty hair;
ginger-spice = ginger n. 1;
ginger-suck, a kind of sweetmeat flavoured with ginger;
ginger-wine, a popular British wine, made by the fermentation of sugar, water, and bruised ginger (Cassell);
ginger-work = gingerbread-work;
ginger-wort, the name given by Lindley to the family Zingiberaceæ. Also
ginger-beer,
ginger-pop.
| 1886 Advt., *Ginger ale. 1894 Westm. Gaz. 27 June 8/1 The only time he was ever the worse for liquor was when he indulged in three bottles of a temperance drink called ginger ale. |
| 1864 Tovey Brit. & For. Spirits 284 *Ginger Brandy is the best cordial stomachic that is made. |
| 1771 R. Drummond Let. 23 Feb. in Corr. Garrick (1831) I. 414, I have sent you the receipt for the *ginger-cakes. 1824 J. Pickering Jrnl. 25 Dec. in Emigration (1830) ii. 11, I was presented..with ginger-cake, and a cake with raisins in it, which is their ‘Christmas cake’. 1843 W. T. Thompson Major Jones' Courtship 43 I'm jest as good for old Miss Stallionses consent as a thrip is for a ginger cake. 1936 Lucas & Hume Au Petit Cordon Bleu 172 Ginger cake (A 2-lb. cake). |
| 1334–5 *Gingebr' confit [see comfit n. 1]. 1365 MS. Hostill. Roll, Durham, Octo coffynz de Anys comfytt genger comfytt et geloffers, viijs. 1401–2 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 208 In ij unc. gingergumfet et annes, 6d. |
| 1882 Ogilvie, *Ginger-cordial, a liqueur made from raisins, lemon-rind, ginger and water, occasionally strengthened with whisky or brandy. 1853 Reade Chr. Johnstone xi. 141 Flucker ginger-cordialed him; his sister bewitched him. |
| 1847 Gosse Birds Jamaica 381 Large ponds, in which tall and thick bulrushes densely grow, or masses of the great *ginger-fern. |
| 1864 Grisebach Flora W. Ind. 784 *Ginger-grass, Panicum glutinosum. 1866 Treas. Bot. 531/2 Ginger-grass oil, an essential oil obtained from Andropogon Nardus. |
| 1900 L. H. Bailey Cycl. Amer. Hort. II. 717/2 Hedychium... *Ginger Lily. 1926 M. Leinster Dew on Leaf 8 A sickly odour of ginger-lilies. 1969 ‘J. Morris’ Fever Grass xxi. 189 The thick clumps of ginger lilies. |
| 1802 Coleridge Lett. (1895) 413 The whole kingdom is getting *ginger-mad. |
| 1907 J. Masefield Tarpaulin Muster iv. 68 It wouldn't give me no pleasure..to have that *ginger-nob in my chest. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. ix. 170 Red heads attract a barrage of nicknames:..gingernob, [etc.]. |
| 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxviii. 276 Which a good aunt of mine had filled with *ginger-nuts two years before. |
| 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 357 The *ginger plant has been cultivated in this country as a stove exotic since..1600. 1880 Britten & Holland Plant-n. 206 Ginger-plant, Tanacetum vulgare. 1889 C. Lumholtz Cannibals (1890) 297 If the leaves of the ginger-plant are used, they give the food a peculiar piquant flavour. |
| a 1659 Cleveland Agst. Ale iii, That Lover was in pretty Case, That trimm'd thee with a *Ginger-race. |
| 1868 E. S. Phelps Gates ajar xii, P'r'aps I'll have some strawberries too, and some *ginger-snaps. |
| 1530 Palsgr. 225/1 *Ginger spyce, gingembre. |
| 1880 Besant & Rice Seamy Side i. 7 ‘You can't have eaten all that!’ ‘Every penny, mother—parliament, toffee, and *ginger-suck.’ |
| 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. ii, A ‘feast-cake’ and a bottle of *ginger or raisin wine. |
| 1614 B. Jonson Bart. Fair iii. i, Hence with thy basket of Popery, thy nest of Images: and whole legend of *ginger-worke. |
| 1846 Lindley Veg. Kingd. 166 Formerly the *Gingerworts and Marants were united in one tribe called Canneæ. |
B. adj. dial. Of hair: Having the colour of ginger. Of a person: Sandy-haired. Of a cock: Having red plumage.
| a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Ginger, of a pale red colour, particularly applied to hair. 1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales I. 35, I perceive a fine red or ginger game-cock in the yard. 1886 Chesh. Gloss., Ginger, sandy-haired. ‘He's a bit ginger.’ 1897 Daily News 10 Sept. 2/6 Complexion and hair brown, moustache ginger. |
▪ II. ˈginger, a.2 Obs. exc. dial. [Back-formation from gingerly.] = gingerly a. in various senses.
| 1600 Hosp. Incur. Fooles 8 This man is verie ginger, & dangerous of himselfe, vpon his traine of three or foure raggie heeld followers. [Orig. Chi và in brodetto e in geladina da se stesso per hauer la coda di quattro scalzi attorno.] 1675 Cotton Burl. upon Burl., Venus and Cupid 41 But yet was not the Squelch so ginger, But that I sprain'd my little Finger. 1882 W. Worc. Gloss., Ginger, careful, tender, light of touch. |
▪ III. ginger, v. (
ˈdʒɪndʒə(r))
[f. the n.] 1. trans. To put ginger into (a drink); to flavour with ginger.
2. To treat a horse with ginger;
= feague v. 2 b.
| 1823 Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1824) 246 A horse has sore legs, Goes on three or four legs, Whether he's ginger'd, Spavin'd, gall'd, or injur'd. 1877 Daily News 13 Dec. 2/5 Captain Scot..did not instruct the defendant to ginger his horses. |
b. fig. To put mettle or spirit into; to spirit
up.
| 1849 Disraeli 11 Mar. in Corr. w. Sister (1886) 221 Whether they were gingered up by the articles in the ‘Times’ or not I can't say. 1879 Punch 22 Mar. 123 It is quite wonderful how dead the House is! It wants something to ‘ginger’ it. 1897 Daily News 20 July 5/1 The Duke is not, to put it mildly, proud, and he cannot apparently be ‘gingered’ into the semblance of a manly attitude. |
Hence
ˈgingered ppl. a.,
ˈgingering vbl. n.| c 1825 Houlston Tracts II. No. 47. 8 Thanks to..Mrs. Pritchard's gingered ale! 1897 Daily News 22 Mar. 3/3 The practice of gingering was very common and very cruel. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 6 Aug. 3/3 The suffering of the poor gingered screws who go blindfold to their fate. |