Gath·er v. t. [imp. & p. p. Gathered p. pr. & vb. n. Gathering.]
 1. To bring together; to collect, as a number of separate things, into one place, or into one aggregate body; to assemble; to muster; to congregate.
 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.
 6. To gain; to win. [Obs.]
    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 be gathered to one's fathers to die. --Gen. xxv. 8.
 To gather breath, to recover normal breathing after being out of breath; to get one's 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.