to gather together; assemble: The professor collected the students' exams.
2.
to accumulate; make a collection of: to collect stamps.
3.
to receive or compel payment of: to collect a bill.
4.
to regain control of (oneself or one's thoughts, faculties, composure, or the like): At the news of her promotion, she took a few minutes to collect herself.
5.
to call for and take with one: He drove off to collect his guests. They collected their mail.
6.
Manège. to bring (a horse) into a collected attitude.
7.
Archaic. to infer.
–verb (used without object)
8.
to gather together; assemble: The students collected in the assembly hall.
9.
to accumulate: Rain water collected in the barrel.
10.
to receive payment (often fol. by on): He collected on the damage to his house.
11.
to gather or bring together books, stamps, coins, etc., usually as a hobby: He's been collecting for years.
12.
Manège. (of a horse) to come into a collected attitude.
–adjective, adverb
13.
requiring payment by the recipient: a collect telephone call; a telegram sent collect.
[Origin: 1375–1425; late ME < L colléctus (ptp. of colligere to collect), equiv. to col-col-1+ leg- (s. of legere to gather) + -tus ptp. suffix]
col·lect 2Audio Help (kŏl'ĭkt, -ěkt') Pronunciation Key
n.
Ecclesiastical
A brief formal prayer that is used in various Western liturgies before the epistle and that varies with the day.
[Middle English collecte, from Old French, from Medieval Latin collēcta, short for (ōrātiō ad) collēctam, (prayer at the) gathering, from Latin collēctus, gathered, past participle of colligere, to gather; see collect1.]
1573 (trans.), from O.Fr. collecter (1371), from L. collectus, pp. of colligere "gather together," from com- "together" + legere "to gather." The intrans. sense is attested from 1794. Collection "group of things gathered together" is from 1460; as "money gathered for charitable or religious purposes" it is attested from 1535. As an adj. meaning "paid by the recipient" it is attested from 1893, originally with ref. to telegrams.
payable by the recipient on delivery; "a collect call"; "the letter came collect"; "a COD parcel"
adverb
1.
make a telephone call or mail a package so that the recipient pays; "call collect"; "send a package collect"
noun
1.
a short prayer generally preceding the lesson in the Church of Rome or the Church of England
verb
1.
get or gather together; "I am accumulating evidence for the man's unfaithfulness to his wife"; "She is amassing a lot of data for her thesis"; "She rolled up a small fortune" [syn: roll up]
2.
call for and obtain payment of; "we collected over a million dollars in outstanding debts"; "he collected the rent"
3.
assemble or get together; "gather some stones"; "pull your thoughts together" [syn: gather] [ant: distribute]
4.
get or bring together; "accumulate evidence"
5.
gather or collect; "You can get the results on Monday"; "She picked up the children at the day care center"; "They pick up our trash twice a week"
to bring or come together; to gather Example: People are collecting in front of the house; I collect stamps; I'm collecting (money) for cancer research; He's trying to collect his thoughts.
Coil\ (koil), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Coiled (koild); p. pr. & vb. n. Coiling.] [OF. coillir, F. cueillir, to collect, gather together, L. coligere; col- + legere to gather. See Legend, and cf. Cull, v. t., Collect.]1. To wind cylindrically or spirally; as, to coil a rope when not in use; the snake coiled itself before springing. 2. To encircle and hold with, or as with, coils. [Obs. or R.] --T. Edwards.
Col*lect"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Collected; p. pr. & vb. n. Collecting.] [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.]1. To gather into one body or place; to assemble or bring together; to obtain by gathering. A band of men Collected choicely from each country. --Shak. 'Tis memory alone that enriches the mind, by preserving what our labor and industry daily collect. --Watts. 2. To demand and obtain payment of, as an account, or other indebtedness; as, to collect taxes. 3. To infer from observed facts; to conclude from premises. [Archaic.] --Shak. Which sequence, I conceive, is very ill collected. --Locke. To collect one's self, to recover from surprise, embarrassment, or fear; to regain self-control. Syn: To gather; assemble; congregate; muster; accumulate; garner; aggregate; amass; infer; deduce.
Col*lect"\, v. i. 1. To assemble together; as, the people collected in a crowd; to accumulate; as, snow collects in banks. 2. To infer; to conclude. [Archaic] Whence some collect that the former word imports a plurality of persons. --South.
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