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 moreGather the sequel by that went before. Shak.
6. To gain; to win. [Obs.] He gathers ground upon her in the chase. Dryden.
7. (Arch.)
Defn: 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.)
Defn: 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.
GATHER
Gath"er, v. i.
1. To come together; to collect; to unite; to become assembled; to congregate. When small humors gather to a gout. Pope. Tears from the depth of some divine despair Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes. Tennyson.