Chapter Gigget to Gingerly of G by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

Ginger
(Gin"ger) n. [OE. ginger, gingever, gingivere, OF. gengibre, gingimbre, F. gingembre, L. zingiber, zingiberi, fr. Gr. of Oriental origin; cf. Ar. & Pers. zenjebil, fr. Skr. gavëra, prop., hornshaped; ga horn + vëra body.]

1. (Bot.) A plant of the genus Zingiber, of the East and West Indies. The species most known is Z. officinale.

2. The hot and spicy rootstock of Zingiber officinale, which is much used in cookery and in medicine.

Gingerbeer or ale, a mild beer impregnated with ginger. — Ginger cordial, a liquor made from ginger, raisins, lemon rind, and water, and sometimes whisky or brandy. — Ginger pop. See Ginger beer — Ginger wine, wine impregnated with ginger. — Wild ginger (Bot.), an American herb (Asarum Canadense) with two reniform leaves and a long, cordlike rootstock which has a strong taste of ginger.

Gingerbread
(Gin"ger*bread`) n. A kind of plain sweet cake seasoned with ginger, and sometimes made in fanciful shapes. "Gingerbread that was full fine." Chaucer.

Gingerbread tree (Bot.), the doom palm; — so called from the resemblance of its fruit to gingerbread. See Doom Palm. — Gingerbread work, ornamentation, in architecture or decoration, of a fantastic, trivial, or tawdry character.

Gingerly
(Gin"ger*ly), adv. [Prov. E. ginger brittle, tender; cf. dial. Sw. gingla, gängla, to go gently, totter, akin to E. gang.] Cautiously; timidly; fastidiously; daintily.

What is't that you took up so gingerly ?

Shak.