take up a collection

present singular third person takes up a collection · participle present taking up a collection · past took up a collection · participle past taken up a collection

1. idiomaticTo request and receive money or goods of value from members of a group, especially for a charitable purpose.

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

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

   2 more examples

   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!"

   1885, Mark Twain, chapter 20, in Huckleberry Finn

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

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

   Synonyms: pass the hat