The term "collate" generally means to collect, gather, and arrange information or items in a specific order for comparison or assembly. It can apply to texts, data, or documents, where the goal is to bring related pieces together to examine similarities, differences, or to organize them logically

. In the context of printing , collate means arranging printed pages in the correct sequential order to form complete sets of a multi-page document. For example, if printing multiple copies of a five-page report, collated printing produces each copy as a complete set (pages 1 through 5 in order) before starting the next copy. This contrasts with uncollated printing, where all copies of page 1 print first, then all copies of page 2, and so forth, requiring manual sorting afterward

Summary:

• General meaning: To gather and organize information or documents for comparison or assembly.
• Printing meaning: To print multiple copies of a multi-page document so that each copy is complete and in the correct page order.

This ensures efficiency and ease of distribution when handling multiple copies of documents