gather Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun sewing consisting of small folds or puckers made by pulling tight a thread in a line of stitching
    gathering.
  2. noun the act of gathering something
    gathering.
  3. verb assemble or get together
    collect; pull together; garner.
    • gather some stones
    • pull your thoughts together
  4. verb collect in one place
    assemble; meet; forgather; foregather.
    • We assembled in the church basement
    • Let's gather in the dining room
  5. verb collect or gather
    amass; conglomerate; accumulate; cumulate; pile up.
    • Journals are accumulating in my office
    • The work keeps piling up
  6. verb conclude from evidence
    • I gather you have not done your homework
  7. verb draw together into folds or puckers
    pucker; tuck.
  8. verb get people together
    assemble; get together.
    • assemble your colleagues
    • get together all those who are interested in the project
    • gather the close family members
  9. verb draw and bring closer
    • she gathered her shawl around her shoulders
  10. verb look for (food) in nature
    • Our ancestors gathered nuts in the Fall
  11. verb increase or develop
    gain.
    • the peace movement gained momentum
    • the car gathers speed

WordNet

Gath"er transitive verb
Etymology
OE. gaderen, AS. gaderian, gadrian, fr. gador, geador, together, fr. gæd fellowship; akin to E. good, D. gaderen to collect, G. gatte husband, MHG. gate, also companion, Goth. gadiliggs a sister's son. See Good, and cf. Together.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Gathered ; present participle & verbal noun Gathering
Definitions
  1. To bring together; to collect, as a number of separate things, into one place, or into one aggregate body; to assemble; to muster; to congregate.
    And Belgium's capital had gathered them Her beauty and her chivalry. Byron.
    When he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together. Matt. ii. 4.
  2. To pick out and bring together from among what is of less value; to collect, as a harvest; to harvest; to cull; to pick off; to pluck.
    A rose just gathered from the stalk. Dryden.
    Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Matt. vii. 16.
    Gather us from among the heathen. Ps. cvi. 47.
  3. To accumulate by collecting and saving little by little; to amass; to gain; to heap up.
    He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor. Prov. xxviii. 8.
    To pay the creditor . . . he must gather up money by degrees. Locke.
  4. To bring closely together the parts or particles of; to contract; to compress; to bring together in folds or plaits, as a garment; also, to draw together, as a piece of cloth by a thread; to pucker; to plait; as, to gather a ruffle.
    Gathering his flowing robe, he seemed to stand In act to speak, and graceful stretched his hand. Pope.
  5. To derive, or deduce, as an inference; to collect, as a conclusion, from circumstances that suggest, or arguments that prove; to infer; to conclude.
    Let me say no more Gather the sequel by that went before. Shak.
  6. To gain; to win. Obs.
    He gathers ground upon her in the chase. Dryden.
  7. (Arch.) To bring together, or nearer together, in masonry, as where the width of a fireplace is rapidly diminished to the width of the flue, or the like.
  8. (Naut.) To haul in; to take up; as, to gather the slack of a rope.
Gath"er intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To come together; to collect; to unite; to become assembled; to congregate.
    When small humors gather to a gout. Pope.
    Tears from the depth of some divine despair Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes. Tennyson.
  2. To grow larger by accretion; to increase.
    Their snowball did not gather as it went. Bacon.
  3. To concentrate; to come to a head, as a sore, and generate pus; as, a boil has gathered.
  4. To collect or bring things together.
    Thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strewed. Matt. xxv. 26.
Gath"er noun
Definitions
  1. A plait or fold in cloth, made by drawing a thread through it; a pucker.
  2. (Carriage Making) The inclination forward of the axle journals to keep the wheels from working outward.
  3. (Arch.) The soffit or under surface of the masonry required in gathering. See Gather, v. t., 7.

Webster 1913