gather

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɡæðə/ (UK); /ˈɡæðɚ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English gaderen, inherited from Old English gadrian (“to unite, assemble, collect”),^[2][3][4][5] from Proto-West Germanic *gadurōn, from the base of together,^[4][6] cognate with Old Frisian gaderia, Dutch gaderen and Middle High German gatern (“to unite”), and related to Old English gæd (“fellowship”) and gada (“companion”);^[2][3] Etymonline and Barnhart also connect it with good.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To come together, assemble, collect: probably about 750, in The Phoenix and Andreas, in Barnhart.^[2] Old English used it of flowers, thoughts and persons.^[3]

Semantic evolution

To infer or conclude, as in I gather you're leaving, is from the 16th century.^[4] To draw cloth into folds by a thread is also gather, and the noun, a fold or pucker in cloth, is from the 1660s.^[3][7] To gather speed or momentum and to gather one's thoughts follow.^[8][9] Gather, together, father and weather were spelled with -d- until the 16th century; the change to -th- reflects a change in pronunciation in most dialects.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 750 – to assemble, collect.^[2]
• 16th century – to infer.^[4]
• 16th century – -d- becomes -th-.^[2]
• 1660s – a fold in cloth.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To come or bring together; to assemble.
2. To collect gradually: gather information.
3. To pick or harvest crops, flowers or fruit.
4. To understand or conclude from what one has heard.
5. To increase gradually: gather speed.
6. To draw cloth into small folds by pulling a thread.

Noun

1. A small fold or pucker in cloth.

Word family

• gatherer
• gatherable
• forgather
• ingather
• omnium-gatherum
• regather
• together
• upgather

Related words

• gathering
• good

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins