take up a collection

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

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.
   • 1885, Mark Twain, chapter 20, in Huckleberry Finn:

     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!"

   • 1915, Mary Roberts Rinehart, chapter 27, in K: A Novel:

     "But I hope nobody's took up a collection for me. I don't want no charity."

   • 2001 September 17, Jodie Morse, “Campus Crusader”, in Time:

     When Simmons won a scholarship to Dillard University, her high school teachers took up a collection so she'd have a coat.

• pass the hat

• take up a collection at OneLook Dictionary Search