Col*lect"or (?), n. [LL. collector one who collects: cf. F. collecteur.]
1.
One who collects things which are separate; esp., one who makes a business or practice of collecting works of art, objects in natural history, etc.; as, a collector of coins.
I digress into Soho to explore a bookstall. Methinks I have been thirty years a collector.
Lamb.
2.
A compiler of books; one who collects scattered passages and puts them together in one book.
Volumes without the collector's own reflections.
Addison.
3. Com.
An officer appointed and commissioned to collect and receive customs, duties, taxes, or toll.
A great part of this is now embezzled . . . by collectors, and other officers.
Sir W. Temple.
4.
One authorized to collect debts.
5.
A bachelor of arts in Oxford, formerly appointed to superintend some scholastic proceedings in Lent.
Todd.
© Webster 1913.