Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The part of a garment that encircles the neck, especially when raised or folded.
  • noun A tight-fitting necklace.
  • noun A restraining or identifying band of leather, metal, or plastic put around the neck of an animal.
  • noun The cushioned part of a harness that presses against the shoulders of a draft animal.
  • noun Biology An encircling structure or bandlike marking, as around the neck of an animal, suggestive of a collar.
  • noun Any of various ringlike devices used to limit, guide, or secure a machine part.
  • noun Slang An arrest, as of a criminal.
  • transitive verb To furnish with a collar.
  • transitive verb To seize or detain.
  • transitive verb To arrest (a criminal, for example).

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To seize by the collar.
  • To put a collar on.
  • To roll up and bind (a piece of meat): as, to collar beef. See collared beef, under collared.
  • In racing slang, to draw up to; get even with or be neck-and-neck with in racing.
  • noun Something worn about the neck, whether for restraint, convenience, or ornament.
  • noun Anything resembling a collar; something in the form of a collar, or analogous to a collar in situation.
  • noun A sort of punch made of sack, cider, and sugar. The Cheats, 1662, in Wright.
  • In cricket, to become complete master of (the bowling): said of the batsman.
  • To lay hold of; ‘nab’; take possession of; in foot-ball, to tackle.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To seize by the collar.
  • transitive verb To put a collar on.
  • transitive verb to arrest, as a wanted criminal. Same as put the collar on.
  • transitive verb to roll it up, and bind it close with a string preparatory to cooking it.
  • noun Something worn round the neck, whether for use, ornament, restraint, or identification.
  • noun A ring or cincture.
  • noun A collar beam.
  • noun (Bot.) The neck or line of junction between the root of a plant and its stem.
  • noun An ornament worn round the neck by knights, having on it devices to designate their rank or order.
  • noun A ringlike part of a mollusk in connection with esophagus.
  • noun A colored ring round the neck of a bird or mammal.
  • noun (Mech.) A ring or round flange upon, surrounding, or against an object, and used for restraining motion within given limits, or for holding something to its place, or for hiding an opening around an object.
  • noun (Naut.) An eye formed in the bight or bend of a shroud or stay to go over the masthead; also, a rope to which certain parts of rigging, as dead-eyes, are secured.
  • noun (Mining) A curb, or a horizontal timbering, around the mouth of a shaft.
  • noun (Arch.) a horizontal piece of timber connecting and tying together two opposite rafters; -- also, called simply collar.
  • noun [Eng.] the quantity of brawn bound up in one parcel.
  • noun a day of great ceremony at the English court, when persons, who are dignitaries of honorary orders, wear the collars of those orders.
  • noun to get free; to disentangle one's self from difficulty, labor, or engagement.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The part of an upper garment (shirt, jacket, etc.) that fits around the neck and throat, especially if sewn from a separate piece of fabric.
  • noun A decorative band or other fabric around the neckline
  • noun A chain worn around the neck
  • noun A similar detachable item
  • noun Anything that encircles the neck.
  • noun A band or chain around an animal's neck, used to restrain and/or identifie it.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English coler, from Old French colier, from Latin collāre, from collum, neck; see kwel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English coler, from Old French coler (Modern French collier, col), from Latin collare, from collum ("neck"). Cognate with Gothic  (hals, "neck"), Old English heals ("neck"). More at halse.

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Examples

  • Police still haven't confirmed the device was a a bomb, but they called the bomb squad and evacuated houses nearby, so media reports are leading with the phrase "collar bomb."

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • Two of them the collar is awesome on and once conditioned I dont have to use it very often at all.

    The E-Collar Debate: Love 'Em or Hate 'Em? 2009

  • The shirt has a polo collar, and inside the collar is a high quality woven small blue label that reads Arsenal, while engineered in to the side seam is a small label featuring two Arsenal canons either side of the club motto, ‘Victoria Concordia Crescit,’ which translates as ‘Victory Through Harmony’ flanked by two canons.

    Arsenal 2009/2010 Away & Third team kits Azmie aka switch image 2009

  • Inside the collar is a woven small darkmaroon label that reads Arsenal.

    Arsenal 2009/2010 Away & Third team kits Azmie aka switch image 2009

  • The shirt has a polo collar, and inside the collar is a high quality woven small blue label that reads Arsenal, while engineered in to the side seam is a small label featuring two Arsenal canons either side of the club motto, ‘Victoria Concordia Crescit,’ which translates as ‘Victory Through Harmony’ flanked by two canons.

    Archive 2009-09-01 Azmie aka switch image 2009

  • Two of them the collar is awesome on and once conditioned I dont have to use it very often at all.

    The E-Collar Debate: Love 'Em or Hate 'Em? 2009

  • Inside the collar is a woven small darkmaroon label that reads Arsenal.

    Archive 2009-09-01 Azmie aka switch image 2009

  • With a few yellow and black band runnig across the chest, with the collar is all white.

    Archive 2008-11-01 Azmie aka switch image 2008

  • With a few yellow and black band runnig across the chest, with the collar is all white.

    Fenerbahce SK shirts 2008-09 Azmie aka switch image 2008

  • When trout rivers churn with early-season runoff, a large (4 - to 6-inch) nightcrawler hooked once through the collar is the classic approach.

    Worms for Trout 1999

Comments

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  • In coinmaking, a device in a minting press that restricts the outward flow of metal during striking. The collar allows the rounding process to be much more precise, and it may also be used to put an edge design on the coin.

    April 23, 2008