gather

/ˈgæðər/

/ˈgæðə/

Other forms: gathered; gathering; gathers

Gather is a verb with many related meanings, most involving drawing together or assembling something. You may gather your socks into the laundry bag, or you may gather your thoughts by making a list.

Gather often is used to describe bringing people together for some purpose, like the students who gather in the hallway awaiting an announcement. Gather can also refer to an increase or gain, like when you gather speed and go faster on your bike. Gather can describe coming to a conclusion or an understanding. After listening to your brother's comments and watching him pack up his video games, you may gather that he isn't going to be around for dinner.

Definitions of gather

1. verb

   assemble or get together
   “gather some stones”

   synonyms: collect, garner, pull together

   antonyms:

   spread

   distribute or disperse widely

   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

   get people together
   “gather the close family members”

   synonyms: assemble, get together

   types:

   make

   form by assembling individuals or constituents
3. verb

   collect in one place
   “Let's gather in the dining room”

   synonyms: assemble, foregather, forgather, meet

   come across, encounter, meet, run across, run into, see

   come together

   types:

   aggroup, group

   form a group or group together

   meet

   meet by design; be present at the arrival of

   congregate

   come together, usually for a purpose

   hive

   move together in a hive or as if in a hive

   fort, fort up

   gather in, or as if in, a fort, as for protection or defense

   convene

   meet formally

   clump, cluster, constellate, flock

   come together as in a cluster or flock

   crowd, crowd together

   to gather together in large numbers

   converge

   move or draw together at a certain location

   turn out

   come and gather for a public event

   caucus

   meet to select a candidate or promote a policy

   club

   gather and spend time together

   team, team up

   form a team

   embed

   attach to, as a journalist to a military unit when reporting on a war

   gang, gang up

   act as an organized group

   pool

   join or form a pool of people

   brigade

   form or unite into a brigade

   meet up with

   meet with by appointment

   mass

   join together into a mass or collect or form a mass

   reconvene

   meet or cause to meet again

   sit

   be in session

   huddle, huddle together

   crowd or draw together

   bunch, bunch together, bunch up

   form into a bunch

   overcrowd

   crowd together too much

   pour, pullulate, stream, swarm, teem

   move in large numbers

   herd

   move together, like a herd

   concentrate

   draw together or meet in one common center

   jam, mob, pack, pile, throng

   press tightly together or cram

   type of:

   interact

   act together or towards others or with others
4. verb

   collect or gather
   synonyms: accumulate, amass, conglomerate, cumulate, pile up

   types:

   backlog

   accumulate and create a backlog

   accrete

   make something larger by growing or adding to it

   drift

   be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current

   type of:

   increase

   become bigger or greater in amount
5. verb

   look for (food) in nature
   “Our ancestors gathered nuts in the Fall”

   types:

   shell

   look for and collect shells by the seashore

   type of:

   look for, search, seek

   try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of
6. noun

   the act of gathering something
   synonyms: gathering

   types:

   centralisation, centralization

   gathering to a center

   harvest, harvest home, harvesting

   the gathering of a ripened crop

   haying

   the harvesting of hay

   type of:

   aggregation, assembling, collecting, collection

   the act of gathering something together
7. verb

   draw and bring closer
   “she gathered her shawl around her shoulders”

   type of:

   pull

   apply force so as to cause motion towards the source of the motion
8. verb

   draw together into folds or puckers
   synonyms: pucker, tuck

   type of:

   run up, sew, sew together, stitch

   fasten by sewing; do needlework
9. noun

   sewing consisting of small folds or puckers made by pulling tight a thread in a line of stitching
   synonyms: gathering

   type of:

   sewing, stitchery

   needlework on which you are working with needle and thread
10. verb

    increase or develop
    “the car gathers speed”

    synonyms: gain

    type of:

    increase

    become bigger or greater in amount
11. verb

    conclude from evidence
    “I gather you have not done your homework”

    type of:

    conclude, reason, reason out

    decide by reasoning; draw or come to a conclusion