English Explanatory Dictionary

gather

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To collect normally separate things.
  2. Especially, to harvest food.
  3. To accumulate over time, to amass little by little.
  4. To congregate, or assemble.
  5. To grow gradually larger by accretion.
  6. To bring parts of a whole closer.
  7. To add pleats or folds to a piece of cloth, normally to reduce its width.
  8. To bring stitches closer together.
  9. To bring together, or nearer together, in masonry, as for example where the width of a fireplace is rapidly diminished to the width of the flue.
  10. To haul in; to take up.
  11. To infer or conclude; to know from a different source.
  12. To be filled with pus
noun
  1. A plait or fold in cloth, made by drawing a thread through it; a pucker.
  2. The inclination forward of the axle journals to keep the wheels from working outward.
  3. The soffit or under surface of the masonry required in gathering. See gather.
  4. A blob of molten glass collected on the end of a blowpipe.
  5. A gathering.

Pronunciation

/ˈɡæðə/ /ˈɡaðə/ /ˈɡæðɚ/ En-us-gather.ogg /ˈɡaðəɾ/

Word forms

gather gathers gathering gathered gether

Etymology

From Middle English gaderen, from Old English gaderian (“to gather, assemble”), from Proto-West Germanic *gadurōn (“to bring together, unite, gather”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰedʰ- (“to unite, assemble, keep”).

Synonyms

add up begather togetherize accrue assemble aggroup

Derived words

a closed mouth gathers no feet begather be gathered to one's fathers chip and gather chip-and-gather forgather gatherable gather dust gatherer gathering board gathering coal gathering hoop gather oneself gather oneself together gather one's thoughts gather one's wits gather pace gather rosebuds gather speed gather steam gather strength gather up gather way gather wool hunter-gather hunter-gathering ingather light-gathering power misgather omnium-gatherum regather together upgather wool-gather woolgather wool-gathering gathering iron

Translations

Bulgarian: събирам Finnish: kerätä Finnish: koota French: ramasser Georgian: მოკრება Georgian: შეკრება Irish: dlúthaigh Italian: raccogliersi Māori: kukumu Māori: kāpui Portuguese: juntar Turkish: toplamak Khiamniungan Naga: khámshá
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