gathered

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of gather.

   The crowd gathered outside the courthouse before dawn.

   He had gathered enough evidence to make his case.

   Note

   One spelling covers both the plain past and the participle, and only the surrounding words tell them apart. With have it builds the perfect (they had gathered), and with be it builds the passive (the harvest was gathered). Because gather works with or without an object, the past splits the same way: a crowd simply gathered, while someone gathered evidence, crops or strength. The participle also settles into the Quaker adjective.

2. 2
   adjective

   In Quaker worship, focused and centered, with a group sharing a deep sense of spiritual or mystical connection.

   The meeting grew quiet and gathered, every person sensing the same deep stillness.

   Older Friends still recall that winter's gathered meetings, when the silence felt shared by everyone in the room.

   Similarcentered

   Note

   A term of Quaker worship that most often describes the meeting itself: a gathered meeting is one in which the silence seems shared by everyone present. George T. Peck's What is Quakerism, A Primer (1988) links the experience to Carl Jung's synchronicity, a connection with no apparent outward cause. The word is gradable, so one meeting can feel more gathered than another.

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