Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 11th Edition
GATHER
I. verb (gathered; gathering) see: good Date: before 12th century transitive verb to bring together ; collect ,
2. pick , harvest , to pick up or amass as if by harvesting , to scoop up or take up from a resting place , to serve as an attraction for ; accumulate , to effect the collection of ,
5. to summon up , to gain by gradual increase , to prepare (as oneself) by mustering strength, to gain or regain control of , to reach a conclusion often intuitively from hints or through inferences ,
7. to pull (fabric) along a line of stitching so as to draw into puckers, to draw about or close to something , to bring together the parts of , to assemble (the signatures of a book) in sequence for binding, to haul in , intransitive verb
1. to come together in a body, to cluster around a focus of attraction,
2. to swell and fill with pus, grow , increase , gatherer noun Synonyms: see: gather see: infer
II. noun
Date: 1555
something gathered: as, a puckering in cloth made by gathering, a mass of molten glass collected for use in glassblowing, an act or instance of gathering