garner

/ˈgɑrnər/

/ˈgɑnə/

Other forms: garnered; garnering; garners

To garner means to gather or earn. If you want to run for office without belonging to a political party, you must garner enough signatures — usually a few thousand — to get onto the ballot.

The word garner comes from the Latin granarium which means "store-house," usually for grain. The current use of the word carries with it the sense of something being stored up. It’s not only that you can gather enough yes-votes to overcome the opposition, there is the sense that all the things you have garnered have some weight of their own. In its other use, garner means “earn” or "merit." Think of movie stars garnering Oscar nominations for their excellent work.

Definitions of garner

1. verb

   assemble or get together
   synonyms: collect, gather, pull together

   types:

   marshal, mobilise, mobilize, summon

   make ready for action or use

   rake

   gather with a rake

   glean, harvest, reap

   gather, as of natural products

   club

   gather into a club-like mass

   hive

   gather into a hive

   salvage, scavenge

   collect discarded or refused material

   come up, muster, muster up, rally, summon

   gather or bring together

   round up

   seek out and bring together

   cull, pick, pluck

   look for and gather

   nut

   gather nuts

   snail

   gather snails

   bird-nest, birdnest

   gather birdnests

   nest

   gather nests

   oyster

   gather oysters, dig oysters

   sponge

   gather sponges, in the ocean

   pearl

   gather pearls, from oysters in the ocean

   clam

   gather clams, by digging in the sand by the ocean

   shock

   collect or gather into shocks

   heap up, pile up, stack up

   arrange into piles or stacks

   glean

   collect or gather bit by bit, especially information

   whelk

   gather whelk

   cut

   reap or harvest

   mushroom

   pick or gather mushrooms

   berry

   pick or gather berries
2. verb

   store grain
   type of:

   store

   find a place for and put away for storage
3. verb

   acquire or deserve by one's efforts or actions
   synonyms: earn

   types:

   letter

   win an athletic letter

   type of:

   acquire, get

   come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
4. noun

   a storehouse for threshed grain or animal feed
   synonyms: granary

   types:

   crib

   a bin or granary for storing grains

   corncrib

   a crib for storing and drying ears of corn

   type of:

   depot, entrepot, storage, store, storehouse

   a depository for goods