gather way
English
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Verb
editgather way (third-person singular simple present gathers way, present participle gathering way, simple past and past participle gathered way)
- (nautical, idiomatic, dated) To begin to move
- (nautical, idiomatic, dated) to move with increasing speed
- 1844, James Fenimore Cooper, Afloat and Ashore:
- The boat beginning to gather way, too, I threw Sennit the end of a lower-studding-sail halyards, that were brought aft for the purpose, ordered his bowman to let go his hold of the tackle, and dropped the boat a safe towing distance astern
- 1889, Harry Collingwood, The Missing Merchantman:
- The ship tacked with the same admirable precision as before, and on gathering way was found to be looking well up for the entrance to the narrow channel.
- (nautical, idiomatic, dated) to get headway by sail or steam so as to answer the helm.
References
edit- “gather”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.