Dictionary
gath•er
Pronunciation: (ga&thslash;'ur), [key]—
v.t.
1. to bring together into one group, collection, or place:
to gather firewood; to gather the troops.
2. to bring together or assemble from various places, sources, or people; collect gradually:
The college is gathering a faculty from all over the country.
3. to serve as a center of attention for; attract:
A good football game always gathers a crowd.
4. to pick or harvest (any crop or natural yield) from its place of growth or formation:
to gather fruit; to gather flowers.
5. to pick up piece by piece:
Gather your toys from the floor.
6. to pick or scoop up:
She gathered the crying child in her arms.
7. to collect (as taxes, dues, money owed, etc.).
8. to accumulate; increase:
The storm gathers force. The car gathered speed.
9. to take by selection from among other things; sort out; cull.
10. to assemble or collect (one's energies or oneself) as for an effort (often fol. by
up):
He gathered up his strength for the hard job.
11. to learn or conclude from observation; infer; deduce:
I gather that he is the real leader.
12. to wrap or draw around or close:
He gathered his scarf around his neck.
13. to contract (the brow) into wrinkles.
14. to draw (cloth) up on a thread in fine folds or puckers by means of even stitches.
15. Bookbinding.to assemble (the printed sections of a book) in proper sequence for binding.
16. Naut.to gain (way) from a dead stop or extremely slow speed.
17. Metalworking.to increase the sectional area of (stock) by any of various operations.
18. Glassmaking.to accumulate or collect (molten glass) at the end of a tube for blowing, shaping, etc.
—
v.i.
1. to come together around a central point; assemble:
Let's gather round the fire and sing.
2. to collect or accumulate:
Clouds were gathering in the northeast.
3. to grow, as by accretion; increase.
4. to become contracted into wrinkles, folds, creases, etc., as the brow or as cloth.
5. to come to a head, as a sore in suppurating.
6. be gathered to one's fathers, to die.
—
n.
1. a drawing together; contraction.
2. Often,
gathers. a fold or pucker, as in gathered cloth.
3. an act or instance of gathering.
4. an amount or number gathered, as during a harvest.
5. Glassmaking.a mass of molten glass attached to the end of a punty.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
