Literally, to bring or lay together. Hence,

1. To lay together and compare, by examining the points in which two or more things of a similar kind agree or disagree; applied particularly to manuscripts and books; as, to collate copies of the Hebrew Scriptures.

2. To confer or bestow a benefice on a clergyman, by a bishop who has it in his own gift or patronage; or more strictly, to present and institute a clergyman in a benefice, when the same person is both the ordinary and the patron; followed by to.

If the patron neglects to present, the bishop may collate his clerk to the church.

3. To bestow or confer; but now seldom used, except as in the second definition.