collector
Americannoun
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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
- 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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After Caitriona died in August 2023, Jacqueline instructed a debt collector to recover £9,600 owed by Morar.
From BBC • Apr. 5, 2026
It was discovered by avocational fossil collector Lloyd Gunther and donated to the Kansas University Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum in 1981.
From Science Daily • Apr. 3, 2026
He became a reader, then a writer, and above all a collector and seller of books.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026
It’s not that I don’t owe the money — I do — but something about a parent suddenly acting like a $1,000 debt collector feels weird and annoying, especially since he’s not in financial need.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 25, 2026
She was a good student, curious and self-possessed, a collector of details much like her dad.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.