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gathering - 7 dictionary results

gath⋅er⋅ing

  [gath-er-ing]
Use gathering in a Sentence
–noun
1. an assembly or meeting.
2. an assemblage of people; group or crowd.
3. a collection, assemblage, or compilation of anything.
4. the act of a person or thing that gathers.
5. something that is gathered together.
6. a gather or a series of gathers in cloth.
7. an inflamed and suppurating swelling.
8. (in a flue, duct, or the like) a tapered section forming a transition between two sections, one of which has a greater area than the other.
9. Bookbinding. a section in a book, usually a sheet cut into several leaves.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME gaderinge, OE gaderunge. See gather, -ing 1

Synonyms:
1. assemblage. 2. congregation, concourse, company, throng. 7. boil, abscess, carbuncle.

gath⋅er

  [gath-er]
–verb (used with object)
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. Nautical. 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.
–verb (used without object)
19. to come together around a central point; assemble: Let's gather round the fire and sing.
20. to collect or accumulate: Clouds were gathering in the northeast.
21. to grow, as by accretion; increase.
22. to become contracted into wrinkles, folds, creases, etc., as the brow or as cloth.
23. to come to a head, as a sore in suppurating.
–noun
24. a drawing together; contraction.
25. Often, gathers. a fold or pucker, as in gathered cloth.
26. an act or instance of gathering.
27. an amount or number gathered, as during a harvest.
28. Glassmaking. a mass of molten glass attached to the end of a punty.
—Idiom
29. be gathered to one's fathers, to die.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME gaderen, OE gaderian, deriv. of geador together, akin to gæd fellowship; cf. together, good

Related forms:
gath⋅er⋅a⋅ble, adjective
gath⋅er⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
1, 2. accumulate, amass, garner, hoard. Gather, assemble, collect, muster, marshal imply bringing or drawing together. Gather expresses the general idea usually with no implication of arrangement: to gather seashells. Assemble is used of objects or facts brought together preparatory to arranging them: to assemble data for a report. Collect implies purposeful accumulation to form an ordered whole: to collect evidence. Muster, primarily a military term, suggests thoroughness in the process of collection: to muster all one's resources. Marshal, another term primarily military, suggests rigorously ordered, purposeful arrangement: to marshal facts for effective presentation. 4. pluck, crop, reap, glean, garner. 11. assume, understand. 20. accrete.

Antonyms:
1, 19. separate, disperse.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To gathering
gath·er   (gāth'ər)   
v.   gath·ered, gath·er·ing, gath·ers

v.   tr.
  1. To cause to come together; convene: The teacher gathered the students around the exhibit.
    1. To accumulate (something) gradually; amass: The top of the bookshelf gathered dust.
    2. To harvest or pick: gather flowers; gather wild foods.
    3. To draw into small folds or puckers, as by pulling a thread through cloth.
    4. To contract and wrinkle (the brow).
  3. To gain by a process of gradual increase: gather speed.
  4. To collect into one place; assemble.
  5. To pick up and enfold: gathered the kittens into her arms.
  6. Printing To arrange (signatures) in sequence for bookbinding.
    1. To draw into small folds or puckers, as by pulling a thread through cloth.
    2. To contract and wrinkle (the brow).
  8. To draw about or bring (one thing) closer to something else: gathered the shawl about my shoulders.
  9. To conclude; infer: I gather that a decision has not been reached.
  10. To summon up; muster: gathered up his courage.
  11. To attract or be a center of attraction for: The parade gathered a large crowd.
v.   intr.
  1. To come together in a group; assemble: A crowd gathered in the lobby.
  2. To accumulate: Dark clouds are gathering.
  3. To grow or increase by degrees.
  4. To come to a head, as a boil; fester.
  5. To forage for wild foodstuffs.
n.  
    1. The act or an instance of gathering.
    2. A quantity gathered.
  2. A small fold or pucker made by gathering cloth.

[Middle English getheren, gaderen, from Old English gadrian; see ghedh- in Indo-European roots.]
gath'er·er n.
Synonyms: These verbs mean to bring or come together in a group or aggregate. Gather is the most widely applicable: I gathered sticks for the fire. Clouds gathered in the evening sky.
Collect
frequently refers to the careful selection of like or related things that become part of an organized whole: She collects stamps as a hobby. Tears collected in his eyes.
Assemble implies a definite and usually close relationship. With respect to persons, the term suggests convening out of common interest or purpose: Assembling an able staff was more difficult than expected. The reporters assembled for the press conference.
With respect to things, assemble implies gathering and fitting together components: The curator is assembling an interesting exhibit of Stone Age artifacts.
Congregate refers chiefly to the coming together of a large number of persons or animals: The students congregated after class to compare notes.
Accumulate applies to the increase of like or related things over an extended period: They accumulated enough capital to invest. Old newspapers accumulated in the basement.
Amass refers to the collection or accumulation of things, often valuable things, to form an imposing quantity: Their families had amassed great fortunes. Rocks had amassed at the bottom of the glacier. See Also Synonyms at reap.
gath·er·ing   (gāth'ər-ĭng)   
n.  
    1. The action of one that gathers.
    2. That which is gathered or amassed; a collection or accumulation.
  2. An assembly of persons; a meeting.
  3. The collecting of food that grows wild, such as berries, roots, and grains.
  4. A gather in cloth.
  5. A suppurated swelling; a boil or abscess.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Gathering

Gath"er*ing\, n. 1. The act of collecting or bringing together.

2. That which is gathered, collected, or brought together; as: (a) A crowd; an assembly; a congregation. (b) A charitable contribution; a collection. (c) A tumor or boil suppurated or maturated; an abscess.

Gathering

Gath"er*ing\, a. Assembling; collecting; used for gathering or concentrating.

Gathering board (Bookbinding), a table or board on which signatures are gathered or assembled, to form a book. --Knight.

Gathering coal, a lighted coal left smothered in embers over night, about which kindling wood is gathered in the morning.

Gathering hoop, a hoop used by coopers to draw together the ends of barrel staves, to allow the hoops to be slipped over them.

Gathering peat. (a) A piece of peat used as a gathering coal, to preserve a fire. (b) In Scotland, a fiery peat which was sent round by the Borderers as an alarm signal, as the fiery cross was by the Highlanders.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : gathering
Spanish: reunión,
German: die Versammlung,
Japanese: 集まり
More Translations »

Main Entry: gath·er·ing
Function: noun
: a suppurating swelling : ABSCESS
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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