a person who collects things
"The new collector spent his entire paycheck buying rare stamps at the local post office."
a person who is employed to collect payments (as for rent or taxes)
"The landlord hired an aggressive collector to recover the overdue rent from his tenants."
a crater that has collected cosmic material hitting the earth
"Scientists studied the impact site, noting how the meteorite created a collector for cosmic dust and other extraterrestrial debris."
the electrode in a transistor through which a primary flow of carriers leaves the region between the electrodes
"In the lab, we adjusted the collector voltage to ensure the primary flow of carriers left the region between the electrodes efficiently."
A person who or thing that collects, or which creates or manages a collection.
"The museum hired a new collector to manage their vast archive of 19th-century maps."
In plain English: A collector is someone who gathers and keeps many items of the same kind, like stamps or coins.
"My uncle is a collector of rare stamps."
Usage: Use "collector" to describe a person who gathers items like stamps or coins into a personal collection. Do not use it for someone who simply buys goods in bulk for resale without the intent of keeping them as a curated set.
The word entered English via the Old French term collectour and ultimately derives from the Latin verb meaning "to gather together." Its original sense of collecting items or people remained consistent as it traveled through Middle English to modern usage.