# gather

Pronunciation: US say "GATH-ur" /ˈɡæðɚ/; UK say "GATH-uh" /ˈɡæðə/

## Verb

1. To collect things that are normally separate, bringing them together in one place.
   - Simple: To bring things together into one group or 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._
2. To come together in one place as a group; to congregate or assemble.
   - Simple: To come together in one place as a group.
   - _Reporters gathered outside the courthouse to await the verdict._
   - _Each spring, thousands of cranes gather along the river during their migration._
3. To infer or conclude; to come to know something from an indirect or different source.
   - Simple: To understand something from clues or from what people tell you.
   - _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._
4. To build up in quantity over a period of time.
   - Simple: To slowly collect more and more of something over time.
   - _Unpaid bills gather on the kitchen counter when money is tight._
   - _Dust had gathered on every shelf of the abandoned library._
5. To collect or harvest food, such as crops, fruit, or wild plants.
   - Simple: To pick food, like fruit or nuts, from where it grows.
   - _Villagers gather mushrooms in the forest after heavy rains._
   - _Early peoples survived by hunting game and gathering wild plants and berries._
6. To grow gradually larger by accretion, with new material building up bit by bit.
   - Simple: To slowly grow bigger as more and more material builds up.
   - _Thunderheads gather over the plains, swelling taller by the hour._
   - _Year by year, the sandbar gathered until it nearly blocked the harbor entrance._
7. To bring the parts of something closer together, drawing them in toward one another.
   - Simple: To pull the parts of something closer together.
   - _Gather the edges of the foil over the fish before baking._
   - _He gathered his coat around him against the cold wind._
8. To gain or win something, such as speed, strength, or support.
   - Simple: To gain something, such as speed, strength, or courage.
   - _The campaign gathered support in rural counties throughout the summer._
   - _Rolling downhill, the cart began to gather momentum._
11. In sewing, to draw fabric into small folds or puckers, as by pulling up a line of stitching, usually so that it fits a shorter edge.
   - Simple: To pull cloth into small folds with thread so it becomes narrower.
   - _The seamstress will gather the sleeve at the cuff for a fuller look._
   - _Each curtain panel was gathered along the top edge before the rod pocket was sewn._
12. To bring stitches closer together, drawing in part of a knitted piece.
   - Simple: To pull stitches in knitting closer together so the piece becomes smaller or tighter.
   - _Gather the remaining stitches with a tapestry needle to close the crown of the hat._
   - _The pattern gathers the stitches at the wrist to shape the mitten._
13. To haul in or take up, especially a rope, line, or net.
   - Simple: To pull something in toward you, like a rope or a net.
   - _The crew began to gather the slack in the anchor line as the tide turned._
   - _Deckhands gathered the mainsheet quickly when the wind shifted._
15. To collect molten glass on the end of a blowpipe or other tool.
   - Simple: To pick up hot melted glass on the end of a tool.
   - _The apprentice learned to gather glass evenly by rotating the pipe at a steady speed._
   - _He gathered more glass for the second layer of the paperweight._
16. To fill or become filled with pus, as an infected wound or boil does.
   - Simple: To fill with pus, the thick yellow liquid that forms around an infection.
   - _The abscess continued to gather despite the antibiotics._
   - _Her finger gathered around the splinter until the swelling finally burst._
17. To bring masonry together or nearer together, narrowing an opening, as where a wide fireplace contracts to the width of the flue.
   - Simple: To make a stone or brick space narrower as it goes up, like a chimney above a fireplace.
   - _Masons gather the brickwork above the firebox so the smoke is funneled into the flue._
   - _The throat of the chimney was gathered over several courses of brick._

## Noun

9. An occasion on which people, animals, or things are brought together; an act of assembling or collecting.
   - Simple: A meeting or event where people, animals, or things are brought together.
   - _The spring gather brought riders from every ranch in the county._
   - _Neighbors planned a gather at the community hall to welcome the new pastor._
10. A plait or fold in fabric, made by drawing a thread through the cloth and pulling it tight; a pucker.
   - Simple: A small fold in cloth made by pulling a thread through it.
   - _Each gather at the waistline gives the skirt its fullness._
   - _She pulled the threads gently until the gathers sat evenly across the yoke._
14. The lump of hot, liquid glass a glassblower picks up with the tip of a blowpipe.
   - Simple: A ball of hot melted glass that sticks to the end of a long pipe.
   - _She rotated the blowpipe constantly to keep the gather centered and even._
   - _A second gather was added over the first to build up enough glass for the vase._
18. The soffit or under surface of the masonry formed where a fireplace narrows to the width of the flue.
   - Simple: The underside of the brick or stone work where a chimney narrows.
   - _Soot collects on the gather and should be brushed away during chimney cleaning._
   - _The inspector found a crack running across the gather above the firebox._
19. The slight forward inclination of the journals at the ends of an axle, set to keep the wheels from working outward.
   - Simple: A slight forward tilt at the ends of an axle that stops the wheels from slipping outward.
   - _Wagon builders set the gather carefully so each wheel ran snug against the shoulder of the axle._
   - _Too little gather lets a wheel drift toward the end of its axle as the wagon rolls._

## Origin

This word comes from Middle English gaderen, from Old English gaderian ("to gather, assemble"), which traces back through Proto-West Germanic *gadurōn ("to bring together, unite") to the Proto-Indo-European root *gʰedʰ- ("to unite, assemble, keep").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/gather (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).