col·lect¹ / kəˈlekt/ • v. [tr.] 1. bring or gather together (things, typically when scattered or widespread). ∎  accumulate and store over a period of time: collect rainwater to use on the garden. ∎  systematically seek and acquire (items of a particular kind) as a hobby: I've started collecting stamps. | [intr.] the urge to collect, to have the full set, is in us all. ∎  [intr.] come together and form a group or mass: dust and dirt collect so quickly..2. call for and take away; fetch: the children were collected from school. ∎  go somewhere and accept or receive (something), esp. as a right or due: she went to Oxford to collect her honorary degree. ∎  solicit and receive (donations), esp. for charity: collecting money for the war effort | [intr.] we collected for the United Way. ∎  receive (money that is due); be paid: [tr.] they called to collect a debt | [intr.] he'd come to collect.3. (collect oneself) regain control of oneself, typically after a shock. ∎  bring together and concentrate (one's thoughts).4. archaic conclude; infer.5. cause (a horse) to bring its hind legs further forward as it moves, thereby shortening the stride and increasing balance and impulsion.• adv. & adj. (with reference to a telephone call) to be paid for by the person receiving it: [as adv.] I called my mother collect | [as adj.] a collect call. col·lect² / ˈkälˌekt; -likt/ • n. (in church use) a short prayer, esp. one assigned to a particular day or season.

collect 2 gather together. XVI. — OF. collecter or medL. collēctāre, f. collēct-, pp. stem of colligere, f. COL- + legere collect, assemble, choose, read.
So collection action of collecting XIV; things collected XV. — (O)F. — L. collective XV. — F. or L. Hence collectivism, -ist XIX. collector XIV. — AN. collectour — medL. collector; see -OR 1.

collect in church use, a short prayer, especially one assigned to a particular day or season. The word is recorded from Middle English, and comes via Old French from Latin collecta ‘gathering’, feminine past participle of colligere ‘gather together’.

collect 1 (liturg.) short prayer, varying with the day or season. XIII. — (O)F. collecte — L. collēcta collection, (late) assembly, sb. use of fem. pp. of colligere COLLECT 2.

Collect

a meeting for worship; an assembly; a collection; a gathering.

Examples: collect of money; of Tuscan hieroglyphics, 1651.