Accumulate and amass both mean to pile up by successive addition. To accumulate is to heap or pile up or bring together by degrees or by regular additions; to amass is to bring together a great quantity and usually suggests great value. A housewife may accumulate gift tokens; a speculator may try to amass great wealth; an army may amass armaments for a final push. Collect and gather are interchangeable in the sense of bringing together into one place or into a group. Collect suggests discriminating selection in a way that gather does not: to collect stamps as a hobby but with the idea of reselling them later at a profit; to gather a large bunch of wildflowers along a country road. Hoard means to gather and store for the sake of accumulation . It always connotes a selfish desire to keep permanently or for future use and suggests secrecy in the process.

• A miser hoards his money; In wartime, individuals may hoard scarce items.