gathering

What it means

1. A meeting or get-together; a party or social function.

   I met her at a gathering of engineers and scientists.

   1 more example

   The dinner was a star-spangled gathering unequaled in history.

   Synonyms: assemblage, affair

2. A group of people or things.

   a gathering of Catholics

   Synonyms: assemblage, concourse, congregation

3. artsA section, a group of bifolios, or sheets of paper, stacked together and folded in half.

   This gathering machine forms the backbone of a bookbinding operation.

In a sentence

The dinner was a star-spangled gathering unequaled in history.

Where it comes from

1. Old Englishgaderung“gathering, assembly”
2. Middle Englishgadering
3. Englishgathering

From Middle English gadering, from Old English gaderung (“gathering, assembly”), equivalent to gather + -ing (verbal noun ending).