Also 4 -ectioun, 6 -eccion, -eccyon, 7 colection. [a. OF. collection (14th c. in Littré), ad. L. collectiōn-em gathering together or up, n. of action f. colligĕre to COLLECT.]
1. The action of collecting or gathering together; e.g., in Post Office use, the gathering of letters from receiving-houses, and pillar-boxes, into the Chief Office for dispatch or delivery.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), IV. 345. Þe feste … of þe collectioun, of þe gaderynge of þe bones.
1586. Thynne, in Holinshed, III. 1499/1. Thus hauing set end to the discourse of the archbishops of Canturburie … order leadeth vs to a collection of the lord Cobhams.
a. 1644. Laud, Serm. (1847), 171. It is unum aggregatum, one by collection and conjunction of many.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., III. xxxiii. 202. The collection or compiling them into this one Book.
1854. Moseley, Astron., lxv. (ed. 4), 214. A telescope … of enormous power in the collection of light.
1887. P. O. Notice (Oxford), New Collections and Deliveries in the City.
2. spec. The action of collecting money for a religious or charitable purpose, or to defray expenses, esp. at a religious service or public meeting; also concr. the money so collected. † In collection: in receipt of parish relief (obs.); so † to take collection.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Chron. xxiv. 9. That they shulde bringe in to the Lorde the colleccion which Moses … appointed.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. 92. The deacons (whose office was to make collections for the poore).
1666. Evelyn, Diary, 10 Oct. After which was a collection for the distress’d loosers in the late fire.
1670. Eachard, Cont. Clergy, 42. It will be as much to his reward in the next World … to have saved one that takes Collection, as him that is able to relieve half the Town.
1702. Gainsborough Parish Reg., 21 Jan. Buried—Elizabeth diks widdow, in collection.
1740. Wesley, Wks. (1872), I. 260. I made a collection in our congregation for the relief of the poor.
1872. W. E. Scudamore, Notitia Euchar., 325. The Rubric of 1549 … and that of 1552 … both imply that … the collection was for the use of the poor only.
b. The gathering in of money due, as taxes or private debts.
1659. Pecke, Parnassi Puerp., 161. Augustus wil’d the Publicans to stay, From grudg’d Collections, on the Saturday.
1742. N. James, Poems, 123. Where nine-pence a day Does the drudg’ry repay And one half must be spent in collection.
1863. H. Cox, Instit., III. ii. 603. The old precedents of writs for ship-money did not authorize its collection in inland places.
3. concr. A number of objects collected or gathered together, viewed as a whole; a group of things collected and arranged:
a. in a general sense; e.g., of extracts, historical or literary materials.
1460. Capgrave, Chron., 1. To gader eld exposiciones upon Scripture into o collection.
1570. Billingsley, Euclid, I. Def. 3. 2. Number is nothyng els but a collection of vnities.
1586. Thynne, ibid., II. 454/1. I will here set downe a collection of all the archbishops of that see.
1646. Suckling’s Fragmenta Aurea (title-p.), A Collection of all his incomparable Pieces.
1678. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), II. 132. His lady’s papers, most of which consisted of Prayers, Meditations … and Collections on several religious subjects.
1705. Addison, Italy, Pref. To make such Collections out of ’em [the Classics] as I might afterwards have Occasion for.
1769–72. Junius Lett., Ded. 5. A collection of letters.
1853. Trench, Proverbs, 3. Aristotle made a collection of proverbs.
1872. E. Peacock, Mabel Heron, I. vi. 94. A collection of bits of string.
1878. J. E. B. Mayor, Comm. on Juvenal, II. Pref. 9. I have on all the satires collections on the same scale as the fullest here printed.
fig. a. 1721. Prior, Henry & Emma, 643. No perjured knight desires to quit thy arms, Fairest collection of thy sex’s charms.
b. of scientific specimens, objects of interest, works of art, etc.
1651. Evelyn, Diary (1827), II. 32. He had a very curious collection of scarabees.
1681. Ray, Corr. (1848), 130. I had not leisure … to view your rare collection of plants.
1705. Addison, Italy, Pref. Vast Collections of all Kinds of Antiquities.
1722. Journ. thro’ Eng., I. 260. I must own that I have seen much finer Collections abroad than this here.
1870. Magnússon, Lilja, Introd. 24. The Banksian collection of Icelandic MSS.
1886. Morley, Pop. Culture, Crit. Misc. III. 3. Why … should not a portion of the Castellani collection pass six months of the year in Birmingham?
Mod. A large collection of postage stamps.
c. A quantity of anything, as water, which has collected into one mass; an accumulation.
1697. Bp. Patrick, Comm. Ex. vii. 19. 122. There were, here and there, other Collections of Water.
1746–7. Hervey, Medit. (1758), II. 12. The same Collection of floating Vapours.
1794. R. J. Sulivan, View Nat., II. xliv. 258. The Israelites [thought] … that the rain came from a collection of waters above the firmament.
† 4. A summing up, an abstract, summary. Obs.
1579. Fulke, Heskins’ Parl., 35. As by a briefe collection of the whole Chapter, and euerie parte therof shall appeare.
1621. Elsing, Debates Ho. Lords (Camden Soc.), 14. Mr. Attourney reade the colleccion of the examination.
1646. F. Hawkins, Youths Behaviour (1663), 24. To make a little Epilogue, and brief collection of what thou deliverest.
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 167. This is a brief Collection, and indeed the whole Sum of Turning.
† 5. The action of inferring or deducing; an inference, deduction, conclusion. Obs. [L. collectio.]
1529. More, Heresyes, I. Wks. 155/1. By a collection & discourse of reason.
1607. Topsell, Serpents (1653), 653. From hence Hierom Cardan would make this collection, that of every corrupted living Creature another doth proceed.
1643. Milton, Divorce, viii. (1851), 42. Wrong collections have been hitherto made out of those words by modern Divines.
1705. Stanhope, Paraphr. (ed. 2), III. 538. One was the Object of Sense…; the Other … the Collection of Reason.
6. The action of collecting or bringing under control (one’s thoughts, etc.); the action of collecting oneself, or state of being collected; composure. (See COLLECT v. 3, COLLECTED 2.)
1601. B. Jonson, Poetaster, V. i. Most severe In fashion and collection of himself.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 153, ¶ 14. Without any change of posture, or collection of countenance.
1862. Trench, Mirac., xv. 260. In danger of losing the true collection and rest of the spirit in the multiplicity of earthly toil and business.
1868. Kingsley, Hermits, 127. Without habitual collection and re-collection of our own selves from time to time.
7. A district under the jurisdiction of a collector of customs, taxes, etc.; a collectorate.
1786. Burke, W. Hastings, Wks. XI. 483. In the administration of the collections of Benares.
1880. Act 43 & 44 Vict., c. 24 § 95. The collector of the collection in which the rectifier’s premises are situate.
8. pl. An examination at the end of each term in the colleges of the University of Oxford; thence adopted at Durham, and elsewhere.
1799. C. K. Sharpe, in Corr. (1888), I. 89. We are all in a sad fuss here [Oxford] about Collections, which come on next week.
1807. Sir W. Hamilton, Lett., in Veitch, Life. I have been so busy with collections, which are public examinations at the end of each term on all the books we have read during the continuance of the term.
1881. Durham Univ. Jrnl., 2 July, 117. The schools are impending—Collections hover near.
1886. Lyte, Hist. Univ. Oxford, 218. The examinations called ‘collections,’ which are nowadays held in the colleges of Oxford at the end of each academical term, are said to derive their name from the ‘collecta,’ or ingathering of fees, which was anciently made at the corresponding times.
¶ As a rendering of L. collecta (cf. COLLECT sb. 2).
1609. Bible (Douay), Deut. xvi. 8. In the seventh day, because it is the collection [1611 a solemne assembly] of our Lord thy God.
