What is "to gather breath"

Gather \Gath"er\ (g[a^][th]"[~e]r), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Gathered; p. pr. & vb. n. Gathering.] [OE. gaderen, AS. gaderian, gadrian, fr. gador, geador, together, fr. g[ae]d fellowship; akin to E. good, D. gaderen to collect, G. gatte husband, MHG. gate, also companion, Goth. gadiliggs a sister's son. [root]29. See Good, and cf. Together.]

1. To bring together; to collect, as a number of separate things, into one place, or into one aggregate body; to assemble; to muster; to congregate.

   And Belgium's capital had gathered them Her beauty and her chivalry.
   --Byron.

   When he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together.
   --Matt. ii. 4.

2. To pick out and bring together from among what is of less value; to collect, as a harvest; to harvest; to cull; to pick off; to pluck.

   A rose just gathered from the stalk.
   --Dryden.

   Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
   --Matt. vii. 16.

   Gather us from among the heathen.
   --Ps. cvi. 47.

3. To accumulate by collecting and saving little by little; to amass; to gain; to heap up.

   He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.
   --Prov. xxviii. 8.

   To pay the creditor . . . he must gather up money by degrees.
   --Locke.

4. To bring closely together the parts or particles of; to contract; to compress; to bring together in folds or plaits, as a garment; also, to draw together, as a piece of cloth by a thread; to pucker; to plait; as, to gather a ruffle.

   Gathering his flowing robe, he seemed to stand In act to speak, and graceful stretched his hand.
   --Pope.

5. To derive, or deduce, as an inference; to collect, as a conclusion, from circumstances that suggest, or arguments that prove; to infer; to conclude.

   Let me say no more! Gather the sequel by that went before.
   --Shak.

6. To gain; to win. [Obs.]

   He gathers ground upon her in the chase.
   --Dryden.

7. (Arch.) To bring together, or nearer together, in masonry, as where the width of a fireplace is rapidly diminished to the width of the flue, or the like.

8. (Naut.) To haul in; to take up; as, to gather the slack of a rope.

   To be gathered to one's people or To be gathered to one's fathers to die.
   --Gen. xxv. 8.

   To gather breath, to recover normal breathing after being out of breath; to get one's breath; to rest.
   --Spenser.

   To gather one's self together, to collect and dispose one's powers for a great effort, as a beast crouches preparatory to a leap.

   To gather way (Naut.), to begin to move; to move with increasing speed.