To collect is to bring things together into one place or group, often because you want to keep, study, or use them. It can also mean to receive money that is owed.
It comes from Latin “colligere,” from “com-” (together) and “legere” (to gather or pick). The core idea is gathering scattered things into a whole.
Whether you collect stamps, data, or rent, you’re doing the same ancient action: picking up scattered items and making them into a set. Even “intelligence collection” in espionage is just spying dressed up as organized gathering.
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