collector

[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 (def 5).
7.
Energy. solar collector.
Origin
1375-1425; late Middle English (< Anglo-French) < Medieval Latin, equivalent to Latin colleg- (variant stem of colligere; see collect1) + -tor -tor
Related forms
collectorship, collectorate, noun
precollector, noun
subcollector, noun
subcollectorship, noun
undercollector, noun
Examples from the web for collector
  • But only the rare sympathetic critic or adventuresome collector actually spent money on the group's art.
  • The collector has dried all the plants in his herbal, but he has lost weight and humor.
  • Let me add that ours is in no sense a collector's library.
  • To better determine the value of your collection, please contact a collector in your area.
  • Such systems generally consist of a roof-mounted solar collector and a storage tank.
  • Another technique uses moveable mirrors to focus the sun's rays on a collector tower, where a receiver sits.
  • Now you can experience these landmark adventures into the unknown in this collector's video.
  • Stager suspects that the lamps belonged to a collector.
  • Perhaps, using a thermocouple would be more efficient than using a photovoltaic device in the solar collector.
  • He was a large collector of folk art and tools and had a museum nearby.
British Dictionary definitions for collector

collector

/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
Derived Forms
collectorship, noun
Word Origin and History for collector
n.

late 14c., "gatherer of taxes, etc.," from Anglo-French collectour "collector" (of money or taxes; Old French collector, Modern French collecteur), from Late Latin collector, agent noun from colligere (see collect). Fem. form collectress is attested from 1825.