gather

Formsgathers, gathering, gathered

Pluralgathers

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To collect things that are normally separate, bringing them together in one place.

   Volunteers gathered donated coats from drop-off sites across the city.

   Before the trial, the lawyers will gather every document related to the sale.

   Similarcollect, assemble, amass, compile, accumulate

   Oppositescatter, disperse, distribute

   Note

   The core of the word, and its oldest meaning: Old English gaderian, from a root meaning "to unite, assemble, keep." What is brought together can be abstract as easily as physical. You gather ideas or evidence as readily as coats. It also covers taking something up into your arms, as when you gather a reluctant cat from beneath a chair.

2. 2
   verbintransitive

   To come together in one place as a group; to congregate or assemble.

   Reporters gathered outside the courthouse to await the verdict.

   Each spring, thousands of cranes gather along the river during their migration.

   Similarassemble, congregate, meet, collect, flock

   Oppositedisperse, scatter

   Note

   Here the group is the subject, and no one does the collecting: people gather round, and a crowd gathers outside. The verb reaches beyond people, too. In Tennyson's The Princess (1847), tears "rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes." Round and to are natural partners. For bringing others together, use the collecting sense, which takes an object.

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To infer or conclude; to come to know something from an indirect or different source.

   From the tone of the memo, I gather the merger is off.

   Investigators gathered from the scattered receipts that the suspect had left town in a hurry.

   Similarunderstand, infer, deduce, conclude, surmise

   Note

   The verb of secondhand knowledge. It usually takes a that-clause, often with I as subject: I gather that things went badly; I gather from Aunty May you had a good day. The pattern marks a claim as inferred rather than witnessed, and so I gather works as a polite hedge. It can report someone else's inference as well, as in Trains Illustrated of January 1960: "Mr. Farr gathers that…"

4. 4
   verbintransitive

   To build up in quantity over a period of time.

   Unpaid bills gather on the kitchen counter when money is tight.

   Dust had gathered on every shelf of the abandoned library.

   Similaraccumulate, collect, mount

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To collect or harvest food, such as crops, fruit, or wild plants.

   Villagers gather mushrooms in the forest after heavy rains.

   Early peoples survived by hunting game and gathering wild plants and berries.

   Similarpick, harvest, collect, forage

6. 6
   verbintransitive

   To grow gradually larger by accretion, with new material building up bit by bit.

   Thunderheads gather over the plains, swelling taller by the hour.

   Year by year, the sandbar gathered until it nearly blocked the harbor entrance.

   Similarbuild, grow, accumulate, swell, mass

   Oppositedissipate, shrink, disperse

   Note

   Growth with no collector: the thing itself enlarges as material builds on it. Francis Bacon wrote in 1622 that "their snow-ball did not gather as it went," picturing a rolling mass that failed to grow. Clouds and storms gather in the same way. Unlike the "amass" meaning, which takes an object, this use stands alone.

7. 7
   verbtransitive

   To bring the parts of something closer together, drawing them in toward one another.

   Gather the edges of the foil over the fish before baking.

   He gathered his coat around him against the cold wind.

   Similardraw, pull, wrap, fold, bunch

8. 8
   verbtransitive

   To gain or win something, such as speed, strength, or support.

   The campaign gathered support in rural counties throughout the summer.

   Rolling downhill, the cart began to gather momentum.

   Similargain, build, garner, win, attract

   Oppositelose, shed

   Note

   What is gained usually follows as the object: gather speed, gather momentum, gather strength, gather support. Dryden's Ovid's Metamorphoses (1717) has a pursuer who "gathers ground upon her in the chase," closing the distance stride by stride. The idea of steady build-up carries over from amassing little by little, which is why the verb suits momentum and support so well.

9. 9
   nouncountable

   An occasion on which people, animals, or things are brought together; an act of assembling or collecting.

   The spring gather brought riders from every ranch in the county.

   Neighbors planned a gather at the community hall to welcome the new pastor.

   Similarroundup, get-together, meeting, assembly, muster

   Note

   As a noun for an event, the word can become a proper name. John Barnes's The Sky So Big and Black (2007) capitalizes it: "I'll tell you all about it at the Gather, win or lose." In Paul Lederer's Dark Angel Riding (2014) it stays lowercase, as "the gather" a rider arrives at. Either way it names the occasion itself, where gathering can also mean the act of collecting.

10. 10
    nouncountable

    A plait or fold in fabric, made by drawing a thread through the cloth and pulling it tight; a pucker.

    Each gather at the waistline gives the skirt its fullness.

    She pulled the threads gently until the gathers sat evenly across the yoke.

    Similarpleat, fold, tuck, pucker

Showing meanings only. Show all 19