Gathering, n.
1. The act of collecting or bringing together.
2. That which is gathered, collected, or brought together; as: (a) A crowd; an assembly; a congregation. (b) A charitable contribution; a collection. (c) A tumor or boil suppurated or maturated; an abscess.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Gathering, a.
Assembling; collecting; used for gathering or concentrating. Gathering board (Bookbinding), a table or board on which signatures are gathered or assembled, to form a book. Knight. -- Gathering coal, a lighted coal left smothered in embers over night, about which kindling wood is gathered in the morning. -- Gathering hoop, a hoop used by coopers to draw together the ends of barrel staves, to allow the hoops to be slipped over them. -- Gathering peat. (a) A piece of peat used as a gathering coal, to preserve a fire. (b) In Scotland, a fiery peat which was sent round by the Borderers as an alarm signal, as the fiery cross was by the Highlanders.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for gathering; he lists it under company.
Where he writes about it:
Collection, crowd, gathering, group, and multitude have the unorganized and promiscuous character of the assemblage; the other terms come under the general idea of assembly. — from company
Gathering refers to a coming together, commonly of numbers, from far and near; as, the gathering of the Scottish clans. — from company