gather

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   conclude from evidence

   I gather you have not done your homework

2. 2
   verb

   to look for food in nature

   Our ancestors gathered nuts in the fall.

3. 3
   verb

   draw and bring closer

   They gathered their cape to keep off the cold.

4. 4
   verb

   assemble or get together

   gather some stones

5. 5
   verb

   To collect normally separate things.

   I've been gathering ideas from the people I work with.

6. 6
   verb

   To bring parts of a whole closer.

   She gathered the shawl about her as she stepped into the cold.

7. 7
   verb

   To infer or conclude; to know from a different source.

   From his silence, I gathered that things had not gone well.

8. 8
   verb

   To be filled with pus

   Salt water can help boils to gather and then burst.

Etymology

From Middle English gaderen, from Old English gaderian (“to gather, assemble”), from Proto-West Germanic *gadurōn (“to bring together, unite, gather”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰedʰ- (“to unite, assemble, keep”).