From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Gathering \Gath"er*ing\, a.
Assembling; collecting; used for gathering or concentrating.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]