Word.ws English Dictionary

take up a collection

take up a collection verb: to request and receive money or goods of value from members of a group, especially for a charitable purpose.

Verb

take up a collection (third-person singular simple present takes up a collection, present participle taking up a collection, simple past took up a collection, past participle taken up a collection)

  1. (idiomatic) To request and receive money or goods of value from members of a group, especially for a charitable purpose.
    • Then somebody sings out, "Take up a collection for him, take up a collection!" Well, a half a dozen made a jump to do it, but somebody sings out, "Let HIM pass the hat around!"1885, Mark Twain, chapter 20, in Huckleberry Finn
    • "But I hope nobody's took up a collection for me. I don't want no charity."1915, Mary Roberts Rinehart, chapter 27, in K: A Novel
    Synonyms:
    pass the hat

Synonyms of take up a collection

Forms of take up a collection

third-person singular presenttakes up a collection
present participletaking up a collection
pasttook up a collection
past participletaken up a collection

Questions about take up a collection

What does take up a collection mean?
Take up a collection means to request and receive money or goods of value from members of a group, especially for a charitable purpose.
What part of speech is take up a collection?
Take up a collection is a verb.
What is the past tense of take up a collection?
The past tense of take up a collection is took up a collection.

Words near take up a collection in the dictionary

  1. take umbrage
  2. take under
  3. take under advisement
  4. take underwing
  5. take up
  6. take up a collection
  7. take up arms
  8. take up cudgels
  9. take up for
  10. take up residence
  11. take up the cudgel for

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: take up a collection (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-take up a collection.ogg.

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