collation

Etymology

From Middle English collacioun, collation, from Old French collation, from Latin collatiō, from the participle stem of cōnferō (“to bring together”). Not related to English collateral.

noun

1. Bringing together.
   1. The act of bringing things together and comparing them; comparison.
      November 8, 1717, The Bishop of Rochester, letter to Alexander Pope I return you your Milton, which, upon collation, I find to be revised, and augmented, in several places
   2. The act of collating pages or sheets of a book, or from printing etc.
   3. A collection, a gathering.
      It's fantastic, as is so much of Forgiveness Rock Record, a collation of so many talents that it's practically bursting at the seams. 29 Apr 2010, Will Dean, The Guardian
2. Discussion, light meal.
   1. (obsolete) A conference or consultation.
   2. (in the plural) The Collationes Patrum in Scetica Eremo Commorantium by John Cassian, an important ecclesiastical work. (Now usually with capital initial.)
   3. A reading held from the work mentioned above, as a regular service in Benedictine monasteries.
      When the hymn was over the Sacrist was to strike the table for collation, and the Deacon to enter with the Gospel, preceded by three converts, carrying the candlestick and censer. 1843, TD Fosbroke, British Monachism, page 52
   4. The light meal taken by monks after the reading service mentioned above.
   5. Any light meal or snack.
      Yes, absolutely; supper, at least in English tradition, was a cold collation, left out by cook before retiring. 2008, Tim Hayward, The Guardian, 13 May 08
3. (ecclesiastical) The presentation of a clergyman to a benefice by a bishop, who has it in his own gift.
4. (civil law, inheritance) The blending together of property so as to achieve equal division, mainly in the case of inheritance.
5. (civil law, inheritance, Scotland) An heir's right to combine the whole heritable and movable estates of the deceased into one mass, sharing it equally with others who are of the same degree of kindred.
6. (obsolete) The act of conferring or bestowing.
7. (ecclesiastical) Presentation to a benefice.
8. (databases) The specification of how character data should be treated stored and sorted.

verb

1. (obsolete) To partake of a collation, or light meal.
   I […] collationed in Spring Garden.