gather

present singular third person gathers · participle present gathering · participle past gathered · past gathered · alternative obsolete regional gether

1. To collect normally separate things.

   I've been gathering ideas from the people I work with.

   1 more example

   She bent down to gather the reluctant cat from beneath the chair.

   1. Especially, to harvest food.

      We went to gather some blackberries from the nearby lane.

   2. To accumulate over time, to amass little by little.

      Over the years he'd gathered a considerable collection of mugs.

      Synonyms: accrue

   3. intransitiveTo congregate, or assemble.

      People gathered round as he began to tell his story.

      2 more examples

      Tears from the depth of some divine despair / Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, […]

      1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part IV”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 66

      At the north-western most of Iran, to the south of Maku, is the Church of Qara Kelisa (meaning the Black Church) in a village of the same name. Here is reputed to be the burialplace of St. Thaddeus and every year thousands of Armenians gather there for prayer.

      2010, “Ardebil, East and West Azerbaijan Provinces”, in F. Ghani, transl., Iran The Ancient Land in Persian, English & German, 9th edition, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 231

      Synonyms: assemble

   4. intransitiveTo grow gradually larger by accretion.

      Their snow-ball did not gather as it went.

      1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC

2. To bring parts of a whole closer.

   She gathered the shawl about her as she stepped into the cold.

   1. businessTo add pleats or folds to a piece of cloth, normally to reduce its width.

      A gown should be gathered around the top so that it will remain shaped.

   2. businessTo bring stitches closer together.

      Be careful not to stretch or gather your knitting.

      1 more example

      If you want to emphasise the shape, it is possible to gather the waistline.

   3. architectureTo bring together, or nearer together, in masonry, as for example where the width of a fireplace is rapidly diminished to the width of the flue.

      Synonyms: aggroup

   4. nauticalTo haul in; to take up.

      to gather the slack of a rope

3. To infer or conclude; to know from a different source.

   From his silence, I gathered that things had not gone well.

   2 more examples

   I gather from Aunty May that you had a good day at the match.

   Press reports of the length of time the bridge is likely to be out of action vary greatly, but Mr. Farr gathers that a temporary structure may be ready in six months; complete reconstruction, however, will take at least two years. [It was never rebuilt or replaced, and demolished instead.]

   1960 January, “Talking of Trains: The Seven Bridge disaster”, in Trains Illustrated, page 5

4. intransitivemedicineTo be filled with pus

   Salt water can help boils to gather and then burst.

5. artsTo collect molten glass on the end of a tool.
6. To gain; to win.

   He gathers ground upon her in the chase.

   1717, John Dryden [et al.], “(please specify |book=I to XV)”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

plural gathers · alternative obsolete regional gether

1. A plait or fold in cloth, made by drawing a thread through it; a pucker.
2. The inclination forward of the axle journals to keep the wheels from working outward.
3. businessThe soffit or under surface of the masonry required in gathering. See gather.
4. artsA blob of molten glass collected on the end of a blowpipe.
5. A gathering.

   "I'll tell you all about it at the Gather, win or lose."

   2007, John Barnes, The Sky So Big and Black, Tor Books, →ISBN

   1 more example

   What bothered him more, he thought as he started Washoe southward, was Spikes's animosity, the bearded man's sudden violent reaction to his arrival at the gather.

   2014, Paul Lederer, Dark Angel Riding, Open Road Media, →ISBN