Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Gather?

\Gath"er\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Gathered}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Gathering}.] [OE. gaderen, AS. gaderian, gadrian, fr. gador, geador, together, fr. g[ae]d fellowship; akin to E. good, D. gaderen to collect, G. gatte husband, MHG. gate, also companion, Goth. gadiliggs a sister's son. [root]29. See {Good}, and cf. {Together}.] 1. To bring together; to collect, as a number of separate things, into one place, or into one aggregate body; to assemble; to muster; to congregate. And Belgium's capital had gathered them Her beauty and her chivalry. --Byron. When he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together. --Matt. ii. 4. 2. To pick out and bring together from among what is of less value; to collect, as a harvest; to harvest; to cull; to pick off; to pluck. A rose just gathered from the stalk. --Dryden. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? --Matt. vii. 16. Gather us from among the heathen. --Ps. cvi. 47. 3. To accumulate by collecting and saving little by little; to amass; to gain; to heap up. He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor. --Prov. xxviii. 8. To pay the creditor . . . he must gather up money by degrees. --Locke. 4. To bring closely together the parts or particles of; to contract; to compress; to bring together in folds or plaits, as a garment; also, to draw together, as a piece of cloth by a thread; to pucker; to plait; as, to gather a ruffle. Gathering his flowing robe, he seemed to stand In act to speak, and graceful stretched his hand. --Pope. 5. To derive, or deduce, as an inference; to collect, as a conclusion, from circumstances that suggest, or arguments that prove; to infer; to conclude. Let me say no more? Gather the sequel by that went before. --Shak. 6. To gain; to win. [Obs.] He gathers ground upon her in the chase. --Dryden. 7. (Arch.) To bring together, or nearer together, in masonry, as where the width of a fireplace is rapidly diminished to the width of the flue, or the like. 8. (Naut.) To haul in; to take up; as, to gather the slack of a rope. {To be gathered} {to one's people, or to one's fathers} to die. --Gen. xxv. 8. {To gather breath}, to recover normal breathing after being out of breath; to get breath; to rest. --Spenser. {To gather one's self together}, to collect and dispose one's powers for a great effort, as a beast crouches preparatory to a leap. {To gather way} (Naut.), to begin to move; to move with increasing speed.
\Gath"er\, v. i. 1. To come together; to collect; to unite; to become assembled; to congregate. When small humors gather to a gout. --Pope. Tears from the depth of some divine despair Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes. --Tennyson. 2. To grow larger by accretion; to increase. Their snowball did not gather as it went. --Bacon. 3. To concentrate; to come to a head, as a sore, and generate pus; as, a boil has gathered. 4. To collect or bring things together. Thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strewed. --Matt. xxv. 26.
\Gath"er\, n. 1. A plait or fold in cloth, made by drawing a thread through it; a pucker. 2. (Carriage Making) The inclination forward of the axle journals to keep the wheels from working outward. 3. (Arch.) The soffit or under surface of the masonry required in gathering. See {Gather}, v. t., 7.