n. The act or practice of collecting or of gathering together: as, the collection of rare books.n. An assemblage or gathering of objects; a number of things collected, gathered, or brought together; a number of objects considered as constituting one whole of which the single objects are parts: as, a collection of pictures; a collection of essays; a collection of minerals.n. Specifically A sum of money collected for religious or charitable purposes, especially during a religious service.n. The act of deducing consequences; inference from premises; that which is deduced or inferred; an inference; sometimes, specifically, an inductive inference.n. A private examination at the end of each term at the colleges of the English universities.n. The act of receiving or compelling payment of dues, public or private, as for taxes, customs duties, or personal debts.n. The jurisdiction of a collector; a collectorship. See collector, 3.n. Synonyms Assemblage, group, crowd, mass, lot, heap; compilation, selection.n. Contribution.n. In logic, many independent or discrete objects regarded as a single object composed of these objects.n. A plural object: an individual object whose existence consists in the existence of whatever individuals may have been mentally connected and regarded as parts of it.