What is "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.

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