Collector \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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)