collect

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To bring together in a group or mass; gather.
2. v. To accumulate as a hobby or for study.
3. v. To call for and obtain payment of: collect taxes.
4. v. To recover control of: collect one's emotions.
5. v. To call for (someone); pick up: collected the children and drove home.
6. v. To come together in a group or mass; gather. See Synonyms at gather.
7. v. To take in payments or donations: collecting for charity.
8. adv. With payment to be made by the receiver: called collect; a collect phone call.
9. n. Ecclesiastical A brief formal prayer that is used in various Western liturgies before the epistle and that varies with the day.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To gather into one place or group; assemble or bring together; make a combination, group, or collection of; gather: as, to collect facts or evidence; to collect curiosities or rare books.
2. To receive or compel payment of; bring to a settlement: as, to collect a bill.
3. To ascertain or infer from observation or information; infer.
4. Synonyms To convene, convoke, muster, accumulate, amass, group.
5. To gather together; accumulate: as, pus collects in an abscess; snow collects in drifts.
6. To compose one's self.
7. n. In the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and other Western liturgies: A concise prayer, varying according to the day, week, octave, or season, recited before the epistle, regularly consisting of one sentence, and asking for some grace or blessing with reference to some teaching of the epistle or gospel, or both. A collect is composed of an address to the Trinity or to one of the Divine Persons, a petition thus introduced, and the pleading of Christ's merits or final ascription to a Person of the Trinity. One collect may be used alone or several in succession. Collects regularly belong to the eucharistic office, but are repeated in the day-offices (hours, morning and evening prayer), thus forming a constant link between the latter and the altar service. They are characteristic of Western liturgies and offices, not being known in the Eastern churches. Almost all those still in use are very ancient, and the origin of this form of prayer is at least as old as the fifth century. Leo the Great (440-61) and Gelasius I. (492-96) are reputed the first composers of collects. See oratio.
8. n. In a wider sense, a prayer of similar character or construction, especially one following the collect for the day, or used just before the conclusion of an office.
9. n. A name sometimes given to the synapte of the Greek Church.
10. n. A collection.
11. In horsemanship, to gain control (of a horse) and bring it into a position where it has proper command of its powers.

Wiktionary

1. v. To gather together; amass items.
2. v. To get; particularly, get from someone.
3. v. To accumulate similar items or items belonging to a particular theme, particularly for a hobby or recreation.
4. v. To form a conclusion; to deduce, infer. (Compare term, term.)
5. n. The prayer said before the reading of the epistle lesson, especially one found in a prayerbook, as with the Book of Common Prayer.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To gather into one body or place; to assemble or bring together; to obtain by gathering.
2. v. To demand and obtain payment of, as an account, or other indebtedness.
3. v. To infer from observed facts; to conclude from premises.
4. v. To assemble together; ; to accumulate.
5. v. To infer; to conclude.
6. n. A short, comprehensive prayer, adapted to a particular day, occasion, or condition, and forming part of a liturgy.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. gather or collect
2. v. call for and obtain payment of
3. n. a short prayer generally preceding the lesson in the Church of Rome or the Church of England
4. adj. payable by the recipient on delivery
5. v. get or bring together
6. v. assemble or get together
7. adv. make a telephone call or mail a package so that the recipient pays
8. v. get or gather together