forgather

English

Alternative forms

• foregather

Etymology

From Scots for(e)gather (“to gather up, assemble”), from for- +‎ gather. Compare Dutch vergaderen (“to assemble”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /fəˈɡaðə/

Verb

forgather (third-person singular simple present forgathers, present participle forgathering, simple past and past participle forgathered)

1. (intransitive) To assemble or gather together in one place, to gather up; to congregate.
   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter XII:

     “And she caught you?” “Not once, but twice.” [...] “Half-way under the dressing-table, were you?” “The second time. When we first forgathered, I was sitting on the floor with a chair round my neck.”

   • 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 725:

     “I can tell you where to find them,’ she said, ‘with a fair degree of certainty; they foregather almost every evening about this time at a rather disreputable old pub.’

   • 2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge 2008, p. 8:

     They found themselves obliged to forgather in Perugia, where few of them wished to be – least of all the French cardinals who would have preferred not to be in Italy at all.