garner

From Middle English gerner, from Old French gernier, guernier, variant of grenier, from Latin grānārium (“granary”). Doublet of granary.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑː.nə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑːɹ.nɚ/

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• Homophone (non-rhotic accents only): Ghana
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)nə(ɹ)

garner (plural garners)

1. A granary; a store of grain.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 144:13:

     That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 3:12:

     Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

2. An accumulation, supply, store, or hoard of something.
   • a. 1912, Voltairine de Cleyre, Death Shall Not Part Ye More:

     Master, I bring from many wanderings,
     The gathered garner of my years to thee;
     One precious fruit of many rain-blown springs
     And sun-shod summers, ripened over-sea.

garner (third-person singular simple present garners, present participle garnering, simple past and past participle garnered) (transitive)

1. To reap grain, gather it up, and store it in a granary.
   • 1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 195:

     The rustic does not know what would happen to him if he garnered his corn on Sunday, nor does the diner-out in polite society know what would happen if he spooned up his food with his knife - but they both are stricken with a sort of paralysis at the very suggestion of infringing these taboos.

2. To gather, amass, hoard, as if harvesting grain.
   • 1835, Honoré de Balzac, The Lily of the Valley, Chapter 2:

     […] I walked enormous distances […] garnering thoughts even from the heather.

   • 1913, “Anton Berlage” in Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913

     He garnered the fruit of his studies in seven volumes.

   • 1956, Andrew North, Plague Ship, Chapter 14:

     […] its fleet went out to garner in the elusive but highly succulent fish.

3. (often figurative) To earn; to get; to accumulate or acquire by some effort or due to some fact

   Synonyms: reap, gain

   to garner support

   He garnered a reputation as a language expert.

   Her new book garnered high praise from the critics.

   His poor choices garnered him a steady stream of welfare checks.

   • 1983, Ronald Reagan, Proclamation 5031:

     This country will never forget nor fail to honor those who have so courageously garnered our highest regard.

   • 1999, Bill Clinton, Proclamation 7259:

     President Roosevelt garnered the support of our working men and women to increase war production and build our "Arsenal of Democracy."

   • 2023 July 26, Adrian Horton, “Netflix lists AI job worth $900,000 amid twin Hollywood strikes”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     The AMPTP has disputed that description as a “mischaracterization” of their proposal meant to “garner support for its work stoppage.”

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:garner.
4. (rare) To gather or become gathered; to accumulate or become accumulated; to become stored.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 9–10:

     She soothed herself with the belief that the workings of her soul were still known to him,—that her regret and her despondency were but the needful preparation for that other sphere, where now her only remaining hope was garnered.

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto LXXXII:

     For this alone on Death I wreak / The wrath that garners in my heart;

The "earn, acquire, accumulate" sense should be read as a figurative extension of the original "harvest, gather" sense, sometimes with some inanimate achievement or choice metaphorically doing the "gathering", as "The new book garnered high praise", or with an indirect object, as, "The new book garnered the author high praise". In this sense, the achievement, choice, or fact is actively gathering something, positive or negative, for its creator, even if that choice is inaction, as in "Failure to try can garner you the disapproval of the industrious".

• garner up

• Garren, Graner, Ranger, ranger

garner n

1. indefinite plural of garn

garner

1. Alternative form of gerner

garner

1. imperative of garnere

garner

1. indefinite plural of garn