collector

American  

[kuh-lek-ter] / kəˈlɛk tər /

noun

• collectors
  plural

1. a person or thing that collects.

2. a person employed to collect debts, duties, taxes, etc.

3. a person who collects books, paintings, stamps, shells, etc., especially as a hobby.

4. Electricity. a device for accumulating current from contact conductors.

5. Electronics. an electrode in a transistor or vacuum tube for collecting electrons, ions, or holes.

6. Metallurgy. promoter.

7. Energy. solar collector.

---

collector British  

/ kəˈlɛktə /

noun

1. a person or thing that collects

2. a person employed to collect debts, rents, etc

3. the head of a district administration in India

4. a person who collects or amasses objects as a hobby

5. electronics the region in a transistor into which charge carriers flow from the base

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• collectorate
  noun
• collectorship
  noun
• precollector
  noun
• subcollector
  noun
• subcollectorship
  noun
• undercollector
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• collectors
  plural

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!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

collector collectors

Harding, the sports card collector who is facing a divorce, would swipe and bid in live auctions, many of them card breaks, into the early hours of the morning after his family went to sleep.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

"The provider notified Ofsted of a significant safeguarding event after a child left the nursery with the wrong authorised collector," inspectors added.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

Even at 79 — he’ll hit octogenarian status in December — Kaye confesses he hasn’t slowed down as a collector.

From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2026

The blonde-haired sunglasses collector scored a minor role in the series "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and took a position overseeing Covid safety protocols during the pandemic on another production.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

He is the great mimic; a collector of thoughts, not a thinker; the very last person in class who ever feels obliged to have an opinion of his own.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez

Executive-produced by Josh Safdie, it traces a billion-dollar network of traffickers and collectors that has skirted the Endangered Species Act.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026

At the heart of the boom is the sprawling eastern Cairo settlement of Manshiyet Nasser, where generations of garbage collectors have built one of the world's most sophisticated informal recycling systems.

From Barron's ● Jul. 18, 2026

Auctioneer Ben Rogers Jones said Young's name carries "real weight" among collectors of Welsh ceramics, but his original watercolours "rarely appear on the market".

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

Since Kahlo became a posthumous sensation, her works have attracted deep-pocket collectors, among them Madonna.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

Harbormasters, tax farmers, customs sergeants, wool factors, toll collectors, pursers, wine factors; nine of every ten belonged to Littlefinger.

From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin

Related Words

• connoisseur
• hobbyist