collector
Americannoun
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a person or thing that collects.
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a person employed to collect debts, duties, taxes, etc.
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a person who collects books, paintings, stamps, shells, etc., especially as a hobby.
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Electricity. a device for accumulating current from contact conductors.
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Electronics. an electrode in a transistor or vacuum tube for collecting electrons, ions, or holes.
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Metallurgy. promoter.
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Energy. solar collector.
noun
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a person or thing that collects
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a person employed to collect debts, rents, etc
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the head of a district administration in India
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a person who collects or amasses objects as a hobby
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electronics the region in a transistor into which charge carriers flow from the base
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of collector
1375–1425; late Middle English (< Anglo-French ) < Medieval Latin, equivalent to Latin colleg- (variant stem of colligere; see collect 1) + -tor -tor
Explanation
A collector is a person who accumulates special objects, like stamps or coins. If you're crazy about unicorns, you may also be a collector of unicorn figurines, stickers, and paintings. Collector is from a Latin word meaning "to gather." The 14th-century word was originally used for tax collectors, who gathered money from citizens. By the late 1700s, people who amassed collections of things were also called collectors. It's common for kids to be collectors of trading cards, stuffed animals, rocks, and shells. There are also plenty of adult collectors, who acquire antiques, art, books, and more. If you can think of an interesting object, it's probably got collectors!
Vocabulary lists containing collector
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Collector and content creator Monique Budden, 32, says her experience of the community is very inclusive.
From BBC • Feb. 26, 2026
Collector card shows draw hundreds of vendor tables across the country and, vendors and collectors told The Times, each table easily can generate $15,000 a day in trades, sales and purchases.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 23, 2026
My initials are literally on a pair of their shoes, the Sole Collector Micro G Bloodline.
From Slate • Nov. 15, 2025
In their deeply researched biography, “Irascible: The Combative Life of Douglas Cooper, Collector and Friend of Picasso,” Adrian Clark and Richard Calvocoressi do not dispute what they call the “terrible baseline” of Cooper’s personality.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 10, 2025
He was furious when Garfield refused to name Conkling’s choice to the Collector of Customs at the Port of New York.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
