collector
Americannoun
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collectors
plural
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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
Derived Forms
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collectoratenoun
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collectorshipnoun
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precollectornoun
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subcollectornoun
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subcollectorshipnoun
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undercollectornoun
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
He planned to buy undervalued Morgan silver dollars—iconic coins with a buzzing collector market—get them professionally graded and flip them for profit.
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
The family’s prominence had led to Joseph’s appointment to the lucrative post as collector of customs.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
“These franchises pull in collectors as well as players beyond your core, hardcore hobby-store gaming player.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 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
How many rare-book collectors could there be in San Francisco?
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
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.
