collection plate
7
3.2
- noun
- /kəˈlɛkʃən pleɪt/
:
cesta de colecta
- Every Sunday, the church volunteers make sure the collection plate is ready for the offerings.
- pass the collection plate
- money from the collection plate
- fill the collection plate
Examples
-
On the way back from the ice machine, I slip Mrs. Johnson six dollars for the collection plate at her church.
Fiction book (1999) -
We're going to go ahead and pass around the collection plate while the organ plays.
-
Wanted to make sure she has something for the collection plate.
-
Here, something for your collection plate.
-
You've been putting money in the collection plate every week.
-
Brother Deacon, get the collection plate around on that side.
-
Young Ella awoke to the passing of the collection plate, into which she placed her coin.
Academic text (2018) -
The church walls would practically bulge with a congregation full of women, and the collection plate was filled to overflowing.
Fiction book (1991) -
Ministers and deacons in dark suits and straw hats passed walnut collection plates.
Fiction book (1998) -
During the service, the collection plate was passed around to gather donations from the congregation.
Synonyms
26
6.7
A shallow dish passed around in church to collect money
1
7.5
A bowl that people use to collect money or food from others
A shallow dish that people pass around during a religious service to collect money
A box in a church for collecting small donations for charity
How Secure
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derived from combining 'collection' (the gathering of money/offerings) with 'plate' (a shallow dish), so it straightforwardly denotes a plate used to collect donations. This noun–noun compositional pattern is common and cross-linguistically familiar, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the MWE's meaning even without specific knowledge of church customs.
Etymology
Collection plate comes from the simple image of a shallow plate being passed around in church so people can drop in their collection of money, and you can almost hear the coins clink as it moves down the aisle. That's why 'collection plate' now means the dish used to gather money offerings from the people at a service.