collection plate

English

Alternative forms

Noun

collection plate (plural collection plates)

  1. A plate or other container passed among the worshipers attending a Christian church service, into which donations of money are placed.
    pass the collection plate
    • 1911, Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Story Girl, ch. 5 "Peter goes to church",
      Elder Frewen, a tall, pale man, with long, sandy side-whiskers, appeared at the door of our pew with the collection plate.
    • 1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:
      Mr. Avery boarded across the street from Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose’s house. Besides making change in the collection plate every Sunday, Mr. Avery sat on the porch every night until nine o’clock and sneezed.
    • 2016, “If Tomorrow's Not Here”, in Imperial, performed by Denzel Curry and Twelve'Len:
      No tears, my intuition tells me that the end is near / The only thing I should fear is fear itself / Learn that being afraid of God is being afraid of yourself / So go to church nigga, but I won't go cause I don't know / Where all the money in the collection plate go / If the church still owe, then you know, read your bible at home / I'ma read it myself, all the stories that I'm reading show me how to prevail

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