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.
Idioms
be gathered to one's fathers, to die.
Origin of gather
before 900;Middle Englishgaderen,Old Englishgaderian, derivative of geador together, akin to gæd fellowship; cf. together, good
Related formsgath·er·a·ble, adjectivegath·er·er, nounpre·gath·er, verb (used without object)re·gath·er, verbun·gath·ered, adjectivewell-gath·ered, adjective
1, 2. Gather,assemble,collect,muster,marshal imply bringing or drawing together. Gather expresses the general idea usually with no implication of arrangement: to gather seashells.Assemble is used of objects or facts brought together preparatory to arranging them: to assemble data for a report.Collect implies purposeful accumulation to form an ordered whole: to collect evidence.Muster, primarily a military term, suggests thoroughness in the process of collection: to muster all one's resources.Marshal, another term primarily military, suggests rigorously ordered, purposeful arrangement: to marshal facts for effective presentation.
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.
