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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Gathering coal

Gathering \Gath"er*ing\, 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.

  1. A piece of peat used as a gathering coal, to preserve a fire.

  2. In Scotland, a fiery peat which was sent round by the Borderers as an alarm signal, as the fiery cross was by the Highlanders.

Wiktionary
gathering coal

n. A lighted coal left smothered in embers overnight, about which kindling wood is gathered in the morning.