What is the difference between gather and collect?

Collect is a synonym of gather.

In intransitive terms the difference between gather and collect

is that gather is to grow gradually larger by accretion while collect is to collect objects as a hobby.

As verbs the difference between gather and collect

is that gather is to collect; normally separate things while collect is to gather together; amass.

As nouns the difference between gather and collect

is that gather is a plait or fold in cloth, made by drawing a thread through it; a pucker while collect is the prayer said before the reading of the epistle lesson, especially one found in a prayerbook, as with the Book of Common Prayer.

As an adjective collect is

to be paid for by the recipient, as a telephone call or a shipment.

As an adverb collect is

with payment due from the recipient.

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

collect

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) collecten, from (etyl) .

Verb

(en verb)

To gather together; amass.

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)

, title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame.}}

To get; particularly, get from someone.

To accumulate a number of similar or related (objects), particularly for a hobby or recreation.

To form a conclusion; to deduce, infer. (Compare (gather), (get).)

* 1992 , (Hilary Mantel), A Place of Greater Safety , Harper Perennial 2007, p. 292-3:

the riot is so great that it is very difficult to collect what is being said.

* John Locke

which sequence, I conceive, is very ill collected .

To collect payments.

To come together in a group or mass.

To collect objects as a hobby.

To infer; to conclude.

* South

Whence some collect that the former word imports a plurality of persons.

Adjective

(-)

To be paid for by the recipient, as a telephone call or a shipment.

It was to be a collect delivery, but no-one was available to pay.

Adverb

(-)

With payment due from the recipient.

I had to call collect .

Derived terms

* call collect * collect one's thoughts * collect one's wits * collect up * collectible * collection * collector * recollect, recollection

Etymology 2

(Wikipedia) From (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun) (sometimes capitalized)

(Christianity) The prayer said before the reading of the epistle lesson, especially one found in a prayerbook, as with the Book of Common Prayer.

He used the day's collect as the basis of his sermon.

External links

* * * 1000 English basic words