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:
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 Manchester Odyssey was acquired in Egypt by art collector and Conservative MP Lord Balcarres in 1900.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 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
“It had custom paint. It was in great condition. If I was a car collector, I’d want that car.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
The most royal visitor we ever received was the tax collector, and he never brought a procession.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
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
Since Kahlo became a posthumous sensation, her works have attracted deep-pocket collectors, among them Madonna.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
One of the most prolific early collectors of fossils was Mary Anning.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Perhaps collectors who had read her two caterpillar books might wish to buy her watercolors—or her carefully preserved caterpillar and butterfly specimens.
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
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.
