collar

American  

[kol-er] / ˈkɒl ər /

noun

• collars
  plural

1. the part of a shirt, coat, dress, blouse, etc., that encompasses the neckline of the garment and is sewn permanently to it, often so as to fold or roll over.

2. a similar but separate, detachable article of clothing worn around the neck or at the neckline of a garment.

3. anything worn or placed around the neck.

4. a leather or metal band or a chain, fastened around the neck of an animal, used especially as a means of restraint or identification.

5. the part of the harness that fits across the withers and over the shoulders of a draft animal, designed to distribute the pressure of the load drawn.

6. an ornamental necklace worn as insignia of an order of knighthood.

7. a narrow strip of leather or other material stitched around the top of a shoe as reinforcement or trimming.

8. Zoology. any of various collarlike markings or structures around the neck; torque.

9. Metallurgy.

   1. a raised area of metal for reinforcing a weld.

   2. a raised rim at the end of a roll in a rolling mill to check lateral expansion of the metal being rolled.

10. Machinery. a short ring formed on or fastened over a rod or shaft as a locating or holding part.

11. (in iron or steel construction) a rigid frame for maintaining the form of an opening.

12. the upper rim of a borehole, shot hole, or mine shaft.

13. Also called bracelet.  a narrow horizontal molding encircling the top or bottom of a furniture leg.

14. Glassmaking. merese.

15. Informal.

    1. an arrest; capture.

    2. a person placed under arrest.

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verb (used with object)

• collars,
  present (3rd person singular)
• collared,
  past participle,  past
• collaring
  present participle

1. to put a collar on; furnish with a collar.

   They finally succeeded in collaring the unwilling dog.

2. to seize by the collar or neck.

   We collared the little fellow and brought him, struggling all the while, into the house.

3. to detain (someone anxious to leave) in conversation.

   The reporters collared the witness for an hour.

4. to lay hold of, seize, or take.

5. Informal. to place under arrest.

6. to roll up and bind (meat, fish, etc.) for cooking.

verb (used without object)

• collars,
  present (3rd person singular)
• collared,
  past participle,  past
• collaring
  present participle

1. Metalworking. (of a piece being rolled) to wrap itself around a roller.

idioms

1. hot under the collar, angry; excited; upset.

collar British  

/ ˈkɒlə /

noun

1. the part of a garment around the neck and shoulders, often detachable or folded over

2. any band, necklace, garland, etc, encircling the neck

   a collar of flowers

3. a band or chain of leather, rope, or metal placed around an animal's neck to restrain, harness, or identify it

4. biology a marking or structure resembling a collar, such as that found around the necks of some birds or at the junction of a stem and a root

5. a section of a shaft or rod having a locally increased diameter to provide a bearing seat or a locating ring

6. a cut of meat, esp bacon, taken from around the neck of an animal

7. informal aroused with anger, annoyance, etc

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verb

1. to put a collar on; furnish with a collar

2. to seize by the collar

3. informal to seize; arrest; detain

collar More Idioms  

1. see hot under the collar.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• uncollar
  verb (used with object)
• collarless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• collars
  plural

Participles

• collaring
  present
• collared
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• collar
  simple
• collars
  simple
• have collared
  perfect
• has collared
  perfect
• am collaring
  progressive
• are collaring
  progressive
• is collaring
  progressive
• have been collaring
  perfect progressive
• has been collaring
  perfect progressive

Past

• collared
  simple
• had collared
  perfect
• was collaring
  progressive
• were collaring
  progressive
• had been collaring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will collar
  simple
• will have collared
  perfect
• will be collaring
  progressive
• will have been collaring
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of collar

1250–1300; Middle English coler < Anglo-French; Old French colier < Latin collāre neckband, collar, equivalent to coll ( um ) neck + -āre, neuter (as noun) of -āris -ar ¹; spelling later conformed to Latin ( -ar ² )

Explanation

A collar goes around a neck. For a human, it’s the neckband of a shirt or jacket. For an animal, it’s a neckband that attaches to a leash, kills fleas, or makes a poodle feel fancy. The color of your collar says something about what you do. “Blue collar” refers to people who do manual labor while “white collar” refers to people with desk jobs. Animals generally don’t care what their collars look like. When it's a verb, collar means "apprehend" or "arrest," as when a police detective finally collars an elusive bank robber. This meaning arose from the 17th century use of collar, "grab someone by the neck."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

collar collars collared collaring

Recognizable by a subtle sparkly strip hidden inside a collar or on an aglet at the end of a drawstring cord, Cucinelli’s luxury clothing brand employs a muted palette of tans and grays.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

“It needs a ruffle,” she says, caught up in the process, before adding a frilly collar and glittering vintage brooch.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026

Death sentences for white collar crimes however remain rare, though they are meted out occasionally, typically if the cases involve large sums exceeding 1bn yuan.

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

If you can’t get your pet chipped in time for Saturday, make sure they have a good collar with an up-to-date name tag and contact number, Oreck said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026

Six minutes later, I’m back at the nurse’s office—in my extra shirt and with a fresh ice pack on my face—while Nurse Finnegan inspects my collar.

From "Popcorn" by Rob Harrell

While some lament the decline of suits and ties, others are relieved to ditch the starchy collars and pantyhose.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

AFP previously investigated a multilingual trend of videos stealing seniors’ identities to bait users into sympathetic purchases of slippers and dog collars.

From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026

Both Hole’s Courtney Love and Babes in Toyland’s Kat Bjelland claimed to be the first to perform in vintage, threadbare dresses with Peter Pan collars and puff sleeves, accessorized with knee socks and Mary Janes.

From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026

"People are really pinned to their collars here," she told the BBC News NI's Sunday Politics programme.

From BBC ● May 24, 2026

I wanted to seize those gentlemen by their starched collars, shake them, and shout, couldn’t they see what was happening here?

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

Big stock owners are hedging with collared positions—selling upside calls to buy downside puts.

From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026

Born into the Beyem Seyo pack, she made her way down to the Yowlumni Pack in Tulare County, where she was collared in May.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 6, 2026

Published this week in PNAS, the study draws on nine years of GPS tracking data from collared wolves and cougars.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 3, 2026

The Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute and ecologist Grant Hopcraft have tracked up to 50 collared wildebeest for the past two decades as they migrated through the Serengeti and Maasai Mara.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025

I went up to her and pulled the sleeve of her fur- collared jacket.

From "The London Eye Mystery" by Siobhan Dowd

Tagging and collaring is an underfunded process, said Domingo.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2024

Their small, fuzzy bodies made collaring them difficult, too.

From Science Magazine ● Jan. 25, 2024

But even on Key Largo, collaring prey will only ever be one of a suite of tactics experts use to try to keep pythons at bay.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 20, 2023

Constituents also came to him during off-hours, collaring him when he was shopping.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 16, 2021

The muck seemed to climb me, rising up my arms, my chest, collaring my throat like a noose.

From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs

Related Words

• choker