stamp collecting

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

stamp collecting (uncountable)

1. The hobby of collecting and displaying postage stamps and related items.

   Synonym: philately

2. (figuratively, usually derogatory) Collection of items or information of no intrinsic value.
   • a. 1937, attributed to Ernest Rutherford:

     All science is either physics or stamp collecting.

   • 2002 May 21, Michael Shermer (quoted), “Stephen Gould, 60”, in Los Angeles Times:

     He really changed the field of paleontology from the stamp-collecting type of science where you just catalog fossils.

Related terms

• stamp collection
• stamp collector

Translations

stamp hobby — see philately