Definition of COLLAR

: something resembling a collar in shape or use (such as a ring or round flange to restrain motion or hold something in place)

: any of various animal structures or markings similar to a collar

Noun

He wore a shirt with a tight-fitting collar. She grabbed me by the collar. I bought a new collar for the dog. Verb

The police collared the guy a few blocks from the scene. He collared me on my way out the door.

Recent Examples on the Web

From silk neck scarves to knee-high leather boots and oversized collars, the singer set the sartorial tone for the decade while sidelining flower-power fashion. —Susan Devaney, Vogue, 30 Jan. 2025 The dress includes a flowing high collar with a tie and a V-neckline, as well as long sleeves. —Julia Teti, WWD, 30 Jan. 2025

Police have collared 20-year-old Daniel Taveras for trying to enter his subdivision from the wrong traffic lane, flipping off a cop, and resisting arrest. —Carol Marbin Miller, Miami Herald, 2 Jan. 2025 Holmes wore her beloved barrel jeans from Nili Lotan with a pair of black leather boots, and a navy blue peacoat—collar up. —Hannah Jackson, Vogue, 18 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for collar 

Etymology

Noun

latinization of earlier and Middle English coler, borrowed from Anglo-French coler, colere "collar, necklace" (also continental Old French coler), going back to Latin collāre "neck band, collar," noun derivative from neuter of collāris "of the neck," from collum, collus "neck" + -āris -ar; collum, collus going back to dialectal Indo-European *k^(w)olso-, whence also Germanic *halsa-, whence Old English heals, hals "neck," Old Frisian hals, hāls, Old Saxon, Old High German, Old Icelandic & Gothic hals

Note: Old French also has collier "collar for an animal," going back to Late Latin collārium, attested ca. 500, from collāre by suffix substitution; this is the source of modern French collier "collar, necklace." — The etymon *k^(w)olso- is often taken to be based on Indo-European *k^wel- "turn," perhaps as a thematized derivative *k^wels-o-/*k^wols-o- of the s-stem seen in Old Church Slavic koles-, kolo "wheel" (see wheel entry 1). Comparable would be Lithuanian kãklas "neck, throat," from reduplicated *k^wo-k^wl-o, the neck being the body part that turns the head. However, it has been objected that *k^wo- in Germanic would not necessarily lose rounding. The precise formation is in any case limited to Italic and Germanic.

Verb

derivative of collar entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1613, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler

The first known use of collar was in the 13th century