Amass

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /əˈmæs/

Definitions

1. To collect and consolidate a significant number of items or resources over time for future use or benefit
2. To gradually gather and increase a quantity of possessions, wealth, or information through systematic efforts and accumulation
3. To gather together a large quantity of items, resources, or wealth from various sources over a period, often for strategic purposes or personal use

Etymology: The verb "amass" is built from a simple recipe: "ad" (Latin for "to" or "toward") joined to "massa," meaning a lump or mass. The Latin verb "amassāre" meant to pile things into a heap, and it passed into Anglo-Norman as "amasser" before English adopted it. So the word is, at root, an instruction to turn scattered things into a single lump. English first had a shorter form. Middle English speakers used "massen" for the same idea, and "amassen" appears to have been the fuller version that followed from the Anglo-Norman borrowing. The core sense has stayed remarkably stable: whether a hoard of coins, a crowd, or a pile of evidence, amassing means drawing many things together into one mass.

Synonyms: collect, gather, accumulate, assemble, compile

Antonyms: disperse, scatter, dissipate, lose, divide