collect: Meaning and Definition of

col•lect

1. 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. to bring (a horse) into a collected attitude.
7. to infer.

1. to gather together; assemble: The students collected in the assembly hall.
2. to accumulate: Rain water collected in the barrel.
3. to receive payment (often fol. by on): He collected on the damage to his house.
4. to gather or bring together books, stamps, coins, etc., usually as a hobby: He's been collecting for years.
5. (of a horse) to come into a collected attitude.

1. requiring payment by the recipient: a collect telephone call; a telegram sent collect.

col•lect

1. any of certain brief prayers used in Western churches esp. before the epistle in the communion service.