COLLECT, COLLECTION, a voluntary gathering of money, for some pious or charitable purpose. See ALMS, CHARITY, &c. Some say, the name collect, or-
or collection, was used, by reason those gatherings were anciently made on the days of collects, and in collects, i. e. in assemblies of Christians; but, more probably, quia colligebatur pecunia.
COLLECT is sometimes also used for a tax, or imposition, raised by a prince for any pious design. Thus, histories say, that in 1166, the king of England, coming into Normandy, appointed a collect for the relief of the holy land, at the desire and after the example of the king of France. See CROISADE.