noun
- an assembly or meeting.
- an assemblage of people; group or crowd.
- a collection, assemblage, or compilation of anything.
- the act of a person or thing that gathers.
- something that is gathered together.
- a gather or a series of gathers in cloth.
- an inflamed and suppurating swelling.
- (in a flue, duct, or the like) a tapered section forming a transition between two sections, one of which has a greater area than the other.
- Bookbinding. a section in a book, usually a sheet cut into several leaves.
verb (used with object)
- to bring together into one group, collection, or place: to gather firewood; to gather the troops.
- to bring together or assemble from various places, sources, or people; collect gradually: The college is gathering a faculty from all over the country.
- to serve as a center of attention for; attract: A good football game always gathers a crowd.
- to pick or harvest (any crop or natural yield) from its place of growth or formation: to gather fruit; to gather flowers.
- to pick up piece by piece: Gather your toys from the floor.
- to pick or scoop up: She gathered the crying child in her arms.
- to collect (as taxes, dues, money owed, etc.).
- to accumulate; increase: The storm gathers force. The car gathered speed.
- to take by selection from among other things; sort out; cull.
- to assemble or collect (one’s energies or oneself) as for an effort (often followed by up): He gathered up his strength for the hard job.
- to learn or conclude from observation; infer; deduce: I gather that he is the real leader.
- to wrap or draw around or close: He gathered his scarf around his neck.
- to contract (the brow) into wrinkles.
- to draw (cloth) up on a thread in fine folds or puckers by means of even stitches.
- Bookbinding. to assemble (the printed sections of a book) in proper sequence for binding.
- Nautical. to gain (way) from a dead stop or extremely slow speed.
- Metalworking. to increase the sectional area of (stock) by any of various operations.
- Glassmaking. to accumulate or collect (molten glass) at the end of a tube for blowing, shaping, etc.
verb (used without object)
- to come together around a central point; assemble: Let’s gather round the fire and sing.
- to collect or accumulate: Clouds were gathering in the northeast.
- to grow, as by accretion; increase.
- to become contracted into wrinkles, folds, creases, etc., as the brow or as cloth.
- to come to a head, as a sore in suppurating.
noun
- a drawing together; contraction.
- Often gathers. a fold or pucker, as in gathered cloth.
- an act or instance of gathering.
- an amount or number gathered, as during a harvest.
- Glassmaking. a mass of molten glass attached to the end of a punty.
- be gathered to one’s fathers, to die.
noun
- a group of people, things, etc, that are gathered together; assembly
- sewing a gather or series of gathers in material
-
- the formation of pus in a boil
- the pus so formed
- printing an informal name for section (def. 17)
verb
- to assemble or cause to assemble
- to collect or be collected gradually; muster
- (tr) to learn from information given; conclude or assume
- (tr) to pick or harvest (flowers, fruit, etc)
- (tr; foll by to or into) to clasp or embracethe mother gathered the child into her arms
- (tr) to bring close (to) or wrap (around)she gathered her shawl about her shoulders
- to increase or cause to increase gradually, as in force, speed, intensity, etc
- to contract (the brow) or (of the brow) to become contracted into wrinkles; knit
- (tr) to assemble (sections of a book) in the correct sequence for binding
- (tr) to collect by making a selection
- (tr) to prepare or make readyto gather one’s wits
- to draw (material) into a series of small tucks or folds by passing a thread through it and then pulling it tight
- (intr) (of a boil or other sore) to come to a head; form pus
noun
-
- the act of gathering
- the amount gathered
- a small fold in material, as made by a tightly pulled stitch; tuck
- printing an informal name for section (def. 17)
“a meeting,” mid-12c., from late Old English gaderung, verbal noun from gather.
Old English gadrian, gædrian “unite, agree, assemble; gather, collect, store up,” used of flowers, thoughts, persons; from Proto-Germanic *gadurojan “bring together, unite” (cf. Old English gæd “fellowship, companionship,” gædeling “companion;” Middle Low German gadderen; Old Frisian gaderia; Dutch gaderen “to gather,” gade “spouse;” German Gatte “husband;” Gothic gadiliggs), from PIE *ghedh- “to unite, join” (see good (adj.). Change of spelling from -d- to -th- is 1500s, reflecting earlier change in pronunciation. Related: Gathered; gathering.
see rolling stone gathers no moss.