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Added 2 October 2026

collect

/kəˈlɛkt/ verb

In Latin: colligō, condūcō, cōnferō Wiktionary

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about collect at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To gather together; amass.
Suzanne collected all the papers she had laid out.
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.
To accumulate (a number of similar or related objects), particularly for a hobby or recreation.
John Henry collects stamps.

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

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.

Origin

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 Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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