Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COL-LECT'IVE, a. [L. collectivus; Fr. collectif; It. collettivo.]

1. Formed by gathering; gathered into a mass, sum, or body; congregated, or aggregated. – Watts. Swift.
2. Deducing consequences; reasoning; inferring. – Brown.
3. In grammar, expressing a number or multitude united; as, a collective noun or name, which, though in the singular number itself, denotes more than one; as, company, army, troop, assembly.