Noun

The process of keeping (something or someone) safe.

:

*

*:But then I had the flintlock by me for protection . ¶ There were giants in the days when that gun was made; for surely no modern mortal could have held that mass of metal steady to his shoulder. The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window.

The state of being safe.

A means of keeping or remaining safe.

A means, such as a condom, of preventing pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease.

(lb) Coverage.

Immunity from harm obtained by illegal payments, as bribery or extortion.

(lb) Restrictions on foreign competitors which limit their ability to compete with domestic producers of goods or services.

(lb) An instance of a security token associated with a resource (such as a file).

Noun

(en noun)

A set of items or amount of material procured or gathered together.

*

Secondly, I continue to base my concepts on intensive study of a limited suite of collections , rather than superficial study of every packet that comes to hand.

* (William Whewell)

Collections of moisture.

* Dunglison

A purulent collection .

Multiple related objects associated as a group.

* , chapter=5

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.}}

The activity of collecting.

(topology, analysis) A set of sets.

A gathering of money for charitable or other purposes, as by passing a contribution box for donations.

(obsolete) The act of inferring or concluding from premises or observed facts; also, that which is inferred.

* (John Milton)

We may safely say thus, that wrong collections have been hitherto made out of those words by modern divines.

(UK) The jurisdiction of a collector of excise.

A set of college exams generally taken at the start of the term.