• (RP) IPA: /ˈɡæðə/
• (GA) IPA: /ˈɡæðɚ/

gather (gathers, present participle gathering; past and past participle gathered)

1. To collect; normally separate things.

   I've been gathering ideas from the people I work with.

   She bent down to gather the reluctant cat from beneath the chair.

   1. Especially, to harvest food.

      We went to gather some blackberries from the nearby lane.

   2. To accumulate over time, to amass little by little.

      Over the years he'd gathered a considerable collection of mugs.

   3. (intransitive) To congregate, or assemble.

      People gathered round as he began to tell his story.

      • ?, Alfred Tennyson, Tears

        Tears from the depth of some divine despair / Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes.

   4. (intransitive) To grow gradually larger by accretion.
      • 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: Printed by W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, OCLC 1086746628 ↗:

        Their snow-ball did not gather as it went.

2. To bring parts of a whole closer.

   She gathered the shawl about her as she stepped into the cold.

   1. (sewing) To add pleats or folds to a piece of cloth, normally to reduce its width.

      A gown should be gathered around the top so that it will remain shaped.

   2. (knitting) To bring stitches closer together.

      Be careful not to stretch or gather your knitting.

      If you want to emphasise the shape, it is possible to gather the waistline.

   3. (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.
   4. (nautical) To haul in; to take up.

      to gather the slack of a rope

3. To infer or conclude; to know from a different source.

   From his silence, I gathered that things had not gone well.

   I gather from Aunty May that you had a good day at the match.

4. (intransitive, medicine, of a boil or sore) To be filled with pus

   Salt water can help boils to gather and then burst.

5. (glassblowing) To collect molten glass on the end of a tool.
6. To gain; to win.

   • He gathers ground upon her in the chase.

• (to bring together) aggroup, togetherize; see also Thesaurus:round up

  (—to accumulate over time) accrue, add up; see also Thesaurus:accumulate

  (—to congregate) assemble, begather; see also Thesaurus:assemble

• French: rassembler, ramasser, recueillir
• German: sammeln, versammeln
• Italian: cogliere, collezionare, radunarsi
• Portuguese: coletar, juntar, amontoar, coligir
• Russian: собира́ть
• Spanish: juntar, recoger

• French: ramasser
• Italian: raccogliere, bottinare
• Portuguese: colher
• Russian: собира́ть

• Italian: ammassare, ammucchiare, accumulare
• Portuguese: juntar, amontoar
• Russian: аккумули́ровать
• Spanish: acumular

• French: assembler, rassembler
• Portuguese: reunir, congregar
• Spanish: reunir

• French: ramasser
• Italian: raccogliersi
• Portuguese: juntar

• Italian: arricciare

• French: déduire
• Italian: dedurre, presupporre, presumere
• Portuguese: coligir
• Russian: делать вывод
• Spanish: colegir

gather (plural gathers)

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 (transitive verb).
4. (glassblowing) A blob of molten glass collected on the end of a blowpipe.
5. A gathering.
   • 2007, John Barnes, The Sky So Big and Black (Tor Books, ISBN 9781429970679):

     "I'll tell you all about it at the Gather, win or lose."

   • 2014, Paul Lederer, Dark Angel Riding (Open Road Media, ISBN 9781480488458):

     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.

• Italian: arricciatura