gather

gath•er

[[t]ˈgæð ər[/t]] v. t.

1) to bring together into one group, collection, or place; collect:

to gather firewood; to gather supporters[/ex]

2) agr. to pick or harvest (any crop or natural yield) from its place of growth:

to gather fruit[/ex]

3) to pick up piece by piece:

Gather your toys from the floor[/ex]

4) to pick or scoop up:

She gathered the crying child in her arms[/ex]

5) to serve as a center of attention for; attract

6) to increase gradually and steadily:

The car gathered speed[/ex]

7) to take by selection from among other things; sort out; cull

8) to assemble or collect (one's energies or oneself) as for an effort (often fol. by up)

9) to learn or conclude from observation; infer; deduce:

I gather that she is the real leader[/ex]

10) to wrap or draw around or close:

He gathered his scarf around his neck[/ex]

11) to contract (the brow) into wrinkles

12) to draw (cloth) up on a thread in fine folds or puckers by means of even stitches

13) pri to assemble (the printed sections of a book) in proper sequence for binding

14) cer to accumulate or collect (molten glass) at the end of a tube for blowing, shaping, etc

15) to come together around a central point; assemble

16) to collect or accumulate:

Clouds were gathering in the northeast[/ex]

17) to grow, as by accretion; increase

18) tex to become contracted into wrinkles, folds, or creases, as the brow or as cloth

19) to come to a head, as a sore in suppurating

20) a drawing together; contraction

21) tex Often, gathers. a fold or pucker, as in gathered cloth

22) an act or instance of gathering

23) an amount or number gathered, as during a harvest

•

- be gathered to one's fathers

Etymology: bef. 900; OE gaderian, der. of geador together, akin to gæd fellowship; cf. together gath′er•er, n. syn: gather, assemble, collect, muster, marshal imply bringing or drawing together. gather expresses the general idea usu. with no implication of arrangement: to gather seashells. assemble is used of persons, objects, or facts brought together in a specific place or for a specific purpose: 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 chiefly military term, suggests rigorously ordered, purposeful arrangement: to marshal facts for effective presentation.