Gather vs Cluster - What's the difference?

In intransitive terms the difference between gather and cluster

is that gather is to grow gradually larger by accretion while cluster is to form a cluster or group.

As verbs the difference between gather and cluster

is that gather is to collect; normally separate things while cluster is to form a cluster or group.

As nouns the difference between gather and cluster

is that gather is a plait or fold in cloth, made by drawing a thread through it; a pucker while cluster is a group or bunch of several discrete items that are close to each other.

gather

English

Verb

(en verb)

To collect; normally separate things.

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

She bent down to gather the reluctant cat from beneath the chair.

# Especially, to harvest food.

We went to gather some blackberries from the nearby lane.

# To accumulate over time, to amass little by little.

Over the years he'd gathered a considerable collection of mugs.

# To congregate, or assemble.

People gathered round as he began to tell his story.

#* Tennyson

Tears from the depth of some divine despair / Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes.

# To grow gradually larger by accretion.

#* Francis Bacon

Their snowball did not gather as it went.

To bring parts of a whole closer.

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

# (sewing) To add pleats or folds to a piece of cloth, normally to reduce its width.

A gown should be gathered around the top so that it will remain shaped.

# (knitting) To bring stitches closer together.

Be careful not to stretch or gather your knitting.

If you want to emphasise the shape, it is possible to gather the waistline.

# (architecture) To bring together, or nearer together, in masonry, as for example where the width of a fireplace is rapidly diminished to the width of the flue.

# (nautical) To haul in; to take up.

to gather the slack of a rope

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

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

I gather from Aunty May that you had a good day at the match.

(intransitive, medicine, of a boil or sore) To be filled with pus

Salt water can help boils to gather and then burst.

(glassblowing) To collect molten glass on the end of a tool.

To gain; to win.

* Dryden

He gathers ground upon her in the chase.

Noun

(en noun)

A plait or fold in cloth, made by drawing a thread through it; a pucker.

The inclination forward of the axle journals to keep the wheels from working outward.

The soffit or under surface of the masonry required in gathering. See gather (transitive verb).

(glassblowing) A blob of molten glass collected on the end of a blowpipe.

Derived terms

* gathering iron

Anagrams

* * English ergative verbs

cluster

English

Noun

(en noun)

A group or bunch of several discrete items that are close to each other.

a cluster of islands

* Spenser

Her deeds were like great clusters of ripe grapes, / Which load the bunches of the fruitful vine.

*{{quote-book, year=1907, author=

, chapter=7, title= The Dust of Conflict , passage=Then there was no more cover, for they straggled out, not in ranks but clusters , from among orange trees and tall, flowering shrubs

*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 29, author=Keith Jackson, work=Daily Record

, title= SPL: Celtic 1 Rangers 0 , passage=Charlie Mulgrew’s delicious deadball delivery was attacked by a cluster of green and white shirts at McGregor’s back post but Ledley got up higher and with more purpose than anyone else to thump a header home from five yards.}}

*{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= William E. Conner

, title= An Acoustic Arms Race , volume=101, issue=3, page=206-7, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.}}

A number of individuals grouped together or collected in one place; a crowd; a mob.

* Milton

As bees / Pour forth their populous youth about the hive / In clusters .

* Shakespeare

We loved him; but, like beasts / And cowardly nobles, gave way unto your clusters , / Who did hoot him out o' the city.

(astronomy) A group of galaxies or stars that appear near each other.

(music) A secundal chord of three or more notes.

(phonetics) A group of consonants.

(computing) A group of computers that work together.

(computing) A logical data storage unit containing one or more physical sectors (see block).

(statistics) A significant subset within a population.

(military) Set of bombs or mines.

(army) A small metal design that indicates that a medal has been awarded to the same person before.

An ensemble of bound atoms or molecules, intermediate in size between a molecule and a bulk solid.

Derived terms

* cluster analysis * clustering * cluster bomb * globular cluster * open cluster * star cluster

Verb

(en verb)

To form a cluster or group.

The children clustered around the puppy.

* Tennyson

His sunny hair / Cluster'd about his temples, like a god's.

* Foxe

the princes of the country clustering together

Anagrams

* * English collective nouns ----