gathering

[gath-er-ing]

noun

1. an assembly or meeting.

   Synonyms: assemblage

2. an assemblage of people; group or crowd.

   Synonyms: throng, company, concourse, congregation

3. a collection, assemblage, or compilation of anything.

4. the act of a person or thing that gathers.

5. something that is gathered together.

6. a gather or a series of gathers in cloth.

7. an inflamed and suppurating swelling.

   Synonyms: carbuncle, abscess, boil

8. (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.

9. Bookbinding.,  a section in a book, usually a sheet cut into several leaves.

gathering

/ ˈɡæðərɪŋ /

noun

1. a group of people, things, etc, that are gathered together; assembly

2. sewing a gather or series of gathers in material

3. 1. the formation of pus in a boil

   2. the pus so formed

4. printing an informal name for section

Word History and Origins

Origin of gathering¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English gaderinge, Old English gaderunge; equivalent to gather + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

New York Times Washington Bureau Chief Richard Stevenson said Friday that the policy “threatens to punish them for ordinary news gathering protected by the First Amendment.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He sees consolation in zebrafish gathering around a distressed tankmate, for example, and generosity in lab rats choosing to forgo immediate treats to free a trapped colleague, sometimes sharing the food afterward.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The IMF and World Bank's semi-annual gathering of finance ministers and central bank governors gets underway in Washington on Monday, against the backdrop of new trade threats from the world's two largest economies.

Read more on Barron's

In these tinderbox times, there is something heartening in the daily gathering.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

BBC Wales was told the standing commission could begin gathering evidence for a white paper in a Plaid first term.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• association 
• caucus 
• collection 
• conclave 
• conference 
• congregation 
• convention 
• crowd 
• function 
• group 
• mass 
• meeting 
• party 
• throng