The AI-powered English dictionary
third-person singular simple present gathers, present participle gathering, simple past and past participle gathered
To collect; normally separate things.
Especially, to harvest food. examples
To accumulate over time, to amass little by little. examples
(intransitive) To congregate, or assemble. quotations examples
Tears from the depth of some divine despair / Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, […]
1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part IV”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], page 66
(intransitive) To grow gradually larger by accretion. quotations examples
Their snow-ball did not gather as it went.
1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret
To bring parts of a whole closer.
(sewing) To add pleats or folds to a piece of cloth, normally to reduce its width. examples
(knitting) To bring stitches closer together. examples
(architecture) 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. examples
(nautical) To haul in; to take up. examples
To infer or conclude; to know from a different source. quotations examples
Press reports of the length of time the bridge is likely to be out of action vary greatly, but Mr. Farr gathers that a temporary structure may be ready in six months; complete reconstruction, however, will take at least two years. [It was never rebuilt or replaced, and demolished instead.]
1960 January, “Talking of Trains: The Seven Bridge disaster”, in Trains Illustrated, page 5
(intransitive, medicine, of a boil or sore) To be filled with pus examples
(glassblowing) To collect molten glass on the end of a tool. examples
To gain; to win. quotations examples
He gathers ground upon her in the chase.
1717, John Dryden [et al.], “(please specify |book=I to XV)”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
plural gathers
A plait or fold in cloth, made by drawing a thread through it; a pucker. examples
The inclination forward of the axle journals to keep the wheels from working outward. examples
(masonry) The soffit or under surface of the masonry required in gathering. See gather#verb. examples
(glassblowing) A blob of molten glass collected on the end of a blowpipe. examples
A gathering. quotations examples
"I'll tell you all about it at the Gather, win or lose."
2007, John Barnes, The Sky So Big and Black, Tor Books
What bothered him more, he thought as he started Washoe southward, was Spikes's animosity, the bearded man's sudden violent reaction to his arrival at the gather.
2014, Paul Lederer, Dark Angel Riding, Open Road Media