And Belgium's capital had gathered them Her beauty
and her chivalry. --Byron.
When he had gathered all the chief priests and
scribes of the people together. --Matt. ii. 4.
2. To pick out and bring together from among what is of less
value; to collect, as a harvest; to harvest; to cull; to
pick off; to pluck.
A rose just gathered from the stalk. --Dryden.
Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
--Matt. vii.
16.
Gather us from among the heathen. --Ps. cvi. 47.
3. To accumulate by collecting and saving little by little;
to amass; to gain; to heap up.
He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his
substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity
the poor. --Prov.
xxviii. 8.
To pay the creditor . . . he must gather up money by
degrees. --Locke.
4. To bring closely together the parts or particles of; to
contract; to compress; to bring together in folds or
plaits, as a garment; also, to draw together, as a piece
of cloth by a thread; to pucker; to plait; as, to gather a
ruffle.
Gathering his flowing robe, he seemed to stand In
act to speak, and graceful stretched his hand.
--Pope.
5. To derive, or deduce, as an inference; to collect, as a
conclusion, from circumstances that suggest, or arguments
that prove; to infer; to conclude.
Let me say no more? Gather the sequel by that went
before. --Shak.
He gathers ground upon her in the chase. --Dryden.
7. (Arch.) To bring together, or nearer together, in masonry,
as where the width of a fireplace is rapidly diminished to
the width of the flue, or the like.
8. (Naut.) To haul in; to take up; as, to gather the slack of
a rope.
{To be gathered} {to one's people, or to one's fathers} to
die. --Gen. xxv. 8.
{To gather breath}, to recover normal breathing after being
out of breath; to get breath; to rest. --Spenser.
{To gather one's self together}, to collect and dispose one's
powers for a great effort, as a beast crouches preparatory
to a leap.
{To gather way} (Naut.), to begin to move; to move with
increasing speed.
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 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.