Etymology From Middle English coler, borrowed from Old French coler (Modern French collier), from Late Latin collāre, from Latin collāris, from collum (“neck”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐍃 (hals, “neck”), Old English heals (“neck”). Compare Spanish cuello (“neck”). More at halse. Doublet of collet.
The part of an upper garment (shirt, jacket, etc.) that fits around the neck and throat, especially if sewn from a separate piece of fabric.
It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01:
Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
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A decorative band or other fabric around the neckline.
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A chain worn around the neck.
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A similar detachable item.
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A coloured ring round the neck of a bird or mammal.
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A band or chain around an animal's neck, used to restrain and/or identify it.
Make sure your dog has a collar holding an identification tag.
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A part of harness designed to distribute the load around the shoulders of a draft animal.
Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Technology Any encircling device or structure.
A nylon collar kept the bolt from damaging the surface underneath.
In this case, slide the collar of the flapper over the overflow tube until it seats against the bottom of the flush valve.Popular Mechanics Complete Home How-to (page 356)
Business, Engineering, Mining, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Technology A curb, or a horizontal timbering, around the mouth of a shaft.
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In compounds Of or pertaining to a certain category of professions as symbolized by typical clothing.
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Biology, Botany, Natural sciences The neck or line of junction between the root of a plant and its stem
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A ringlike part of a mollusk in connection with the esophagus.
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Nautical, Transport An eye formed in the bight or bend of a shroud or stay to go over the masthead; also, a rope to which certain parts of rigging, as dead-eyes, are secured.
The collar was made less than twenty-four hours after the hunky bastards butchered the old man.2013, Dorothy Uhnak, Law and Order:
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Business, Finance A trading strategy using options such that there is both an upper limit on profit and a lower limit on loss, constructed through taking equal but opposite positions in a put and a call with different strike prices.
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Mathematics, Sciences A topological neighborhood around a submanifold that can be deformed to preserve a specified condition or structure.
Etymology From Middle English coler, borrowed from Old French coler (Modern French collier), from Late Latin collāre, from Latin collāris, from collum (“neck”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐍃 (hals, “neck”), Old English heals (“neck”). Compare Spanish cuello (“neck”). More at halse. Doublet of collet.
(Follow me, don't follow me.) I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush. (Collar me, don't collar me.) I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush.1988 November 8, R.E.M., “Orange Crush”, in Green:
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To surround or encircle.
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To seize, capture or detain.
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To steal.
"Ho, aboard the Salt Junk Sarah, Rollin" home across the line, The Bo'sun collared the Captain's hat And threw it in the brine.1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 52:
Britain’s police are especially zealous. Officers spend thousands of hours sifting through potentially offensive posts and arrest 30 people a day. Among those collared were a man who ranted about immigration on Facebook and a couple who criticised their daughter’s primary school.2025 May 15, “Europe’s free-speech problem”, in The Economist:
I managed to collar Fred in the office for an hour.
They go in and lobby, collar the representatives and ask: are you for or against?1981 December 19, Nancy Wechsler, Christine Delphy, “Politics In France”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 22, page 8:
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To roll up (beef or other meat) and bind it with string preparatory to cooking.
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BDSM, Lifestyle, Sexuality To bind (a submissive) to a dominant under specific conditions or obligations.