collector

American  

[kuh-lek-ter] / kəˈlɛk tər /

noun

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.

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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

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Other Word Forms

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

Etymology

Origin of collector

1375–1425; late Middle English (< Anglo-French ) < Medieval Latin, equivalent to Latin colleg- (variant stem of colligere; collect ¹ ) + -tor -tor

Example Sentences

But in the early 2010s, seemingly out of nowhere, record collectors in the West caught on to the genre.

From BBC

After a two-year slump, sales surged across nearly every category at the world’s chief auction houses as younger collectors paid more for luxury goods, while seasoned buyers competed for masterpieces from prestigious estates.

From The Wall Street Journal

The most brilliant collector of Cubism of his generation, he emerges as wickedly funny and in most other ways loathsome.

From The Wall Street Journal

Ms. Kondo makes the point that handmade ceramics bear the spirit “of the place and time in which they were made”—a sentiment that underscores any collector’s impulses for the accumulation of objects.

From The Wall Street Journal

Mr Robinson also told the court he had no memory of the crash but conceded that he "must have intentionally disconnected" Wilson's sling as it was best practice in an emergency to release the collector.

From BBC

Related Words

• connoisseur
• hobbyist