Dictionary entry

Collect (3)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Col″lect, n. [LL. collecta, fr. L. collecta a collection in money; an assemblage, fr. collerige: cf. F. collecte. See Collect, v. t.] A short, comprehensive prayer, adapted to a particular day, occasion, or condition, and forming part of a liturgy.

The noble poem on the massacres of Piedmont is strictly a collect in verse.

Macaulay.