anthology
n. countablen. a collection of poems, stories, or essays published together in one book. You use this word when talking about a book that contains works by different authors.
n. a published collection of literary works, such as poems or short stories, often by various authors.
She bought a new poetry anthology.
The teacher assigned a short story anthology for the reading week.
The anthology captures the diverse voices of the era, weaving together prose and verse from writers who would otherwise remain unknown to modern readers.
Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀνθολογία (anthología, “flower-gathering”), from ἀνθολογέω (anthologéō, “I gather flowers”), from ἄνθος (ánthos, “flower”) + λέγω (légō, “I gather, pick up, collect”), coined by Meleager of Gadara circa 60 BCE, originally as Στέφανος (στέφανος (stéphanos, “garland”)) to describe a collection of poetry, later retitled anthology – see Greek Anthology. Anthologiai were collections of small Greek poems and epigrams, because in Greek culture the flower symbolized the finer sentiments that only poetry can express. By surface analysis, antho- + -logy.