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English
Pronunciation
Verb
collect one's thoughts (third-person singular simple present collects one's thoughts, present participle collecting one's thoughts, simple past and past participle collected one's thoughts)
- (idiomatic) To become mentally composed, especially after being distressed, surprised, or disoriented; to become calm or organized in one's emotional state or thinking, as in preparation for a conversation, speech, decision, etc.
- Synonyms: collect one's wits, gather one's thoughts, gather one's wits
1820, Washington Irving, “The Early Experiences of Ralph Ringwood,”, in The Crayon Papers:I got up feverish and nervous. I walked out before breakfast, striving to collect my thoughts and tranquilize my feelings.
1857, Charlotte Brontë, chapter 7, in The Professor:I took a moment to collect my thoughts, and likewise to frame in French the sentence by which I proposed to open business.
1917, L. Frank Baum, chapter 7, in The Lost Princess of Oz:She fell sprawling upon a green meadow and was so dazed and bewildered by her bumpy journey across the Merry-Go-Round Mountains that she lay quite still for a time to collect her thoughts.
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