collects

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular present of collect.

   The museum collects rare manuscripts from across Europe.

   Rainwater collects in the old barrel after every storm.

   Note

   Most of the work this form does takes an object: someone collects stamps, collects a child from school, collects money owed. It can also stand without an object when the meaning is taking payment, as when a landlord collects every Friday. An older use, now archaic, meant "infers", much as gather can. Unlike the prayer-book plural, this form ranges over everyday life.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of collect.

   The new prayer book arranges the collects by liturgical season.

   Several collects from the medieval church survive in modern worship.

   Note

   A plural that belongs to the church. The only noun behind it is the short prayer said before the epistle reading, the kind a prayer book such as the Book of Common Prayer sets out in order through the year. The word is sometimes capitalized. The same spelling also serves as the verb's present tense, so the surrounding words show whether someone is reading prayers or gathering things.

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