collect
UK /ˈkɒlɪkt/ · US /ˈkɑlɪkt/ verb, adjective, adverb, noun
Forms collects collecting collected collectest collectedst collecteth
- verb (transitive) To gather together; amass. “Suzanne collected all the papers she had laid out.”
- verb (transitive) To get; particularly, get from someone. “A bank collects a monthly payment on a client's new car loan. A mortgage company collects a monthly payment on a house.”
- verb (transitive) To accumulate (a number of similar or related objects), particularly for a hobby or recreation. “John Henry collects stamps.”
- verb (transitive) To pick up or fetch [someone, in a vehicle] “Can you collect me from the airport?”
- verb (transitive, now rare) To form a conclusion; to deduce, infer. (Compare gather, get.)
- verb (intransitive, often with on or against) To collect payments. “He had a lot of trouble collecting on that bet he made.”
- verb (intransitive) To come together in a group or mass. “The rain collected in puddles.”
- verb (transitive) To infer; to conclude.
- adjective To be paid for by the recipient, as a telephone call or a shipment. “It was to be a collect delivery, but no-one was available to pay.”
- adverb With payment due from the recipient. “I had to call collect.”
- noun (Christianity) The prayer said before the reading of the epistle lesson, especially one found in a prayerbook, as with the Book of Common Prayer. “He used the day's collect as the basis of his sermon.”
Synonyms
aggregate receive amound group assume construe bump into plough into run into gather up secure gather mass merge coalesce roll up accumulate pile up amass compile hoard take in garner pull together pull in pick up call for cod
Etymology
From Middle English collecten, a borrowing from Old French collecter, from Medieval Latin collectare (“to collect money”), from Latin collecta (“a collection of money, in Late Latin a meeting, assemblage, in Medieval Latin a tax, also an assembly for prayer, a prayer”), feminine of collectus, past participle of colligere, conligere (“to gather together, collect, consider, conclude, infer”), from com- (“together”) + legere (“to gather”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to gather, collect”).
From Middle English collecte, from Ecclesiastical Latin collēcta (“assembly; collect”), originally designating the gathering at the beginning of a liturgical celebration.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To gather into one body or place; to assemble or bring together; to obtain by gathering.
- verb To demand and obtain payment of, as an account, or other indebtedness; as, to collect taxes.
- verb To assemble together; as, the people collected in a crowd; to accumulate; as, snow collects in banks.
- verb To infer; to conclude. [Archaic]
Etymology [L. collecrus, p. p. of collerige to bind together; col- + legere to gather: cf. OF. collecter. See Legend, and cf. Coil, v. t., Cull, v. t.]
Etymology [LL. collecta, fr. L. collecta a collection in money; an assemblage, fr. collerige: cf. F. collecte. See Collect, v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “collect”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details