garner

From Middle English gerner, borrowed 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(r)nə(r)

garner (plural garners)

1. A granary; a store of grain.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, 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), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, 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.

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.
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 figuratively) To earn; to get; to accumulate or acquire by some effort or due to some fact

   Synonyms: reap, gain

   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...

4. (rare) To gather or become gathered; to accumulate or become accumulated; to become stored.
   • 1849, Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H., verse 82

     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".

• For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:garner.

• Garren, Graner, Ranger, ranger

garner n

1. plural indefinite of garn

garner

1. imperative of garnere