a ‧ mass /əˈmæs/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: amasser , from masser 'to gather into a mass' ]
if you amass money, knowledge, information etc, you gradually collect a large amount of it:
For 25 years, Darwin amassed evidence to support his theories.
He amassed a fortune after the war.
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THESAURUS
▪ collect to get things of the same type from different places and bring them together:
She collects stamps (=as a hobby) .
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They have collected 650 signatures for their petition.
▪ gather to collect information from different places, or to collect crops, flowers, wood etc, especially from the ground:
Computers make it easier to gather information.
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The men gathered firewood.
▪ assemble formal to collect something such as information in an organized way:
When all the evidence is assembled, we will write our report.
▪ build up to gradually collect more things of the same type over time:
He has built up one of the country’s finest collections of art.
▪ accumulate to gradually get more and more of something such as money, possessions, or knowledge, over time. Accumulate is more formal than build up :
He is driven by the desire to accumulate wealth.
▪ amass to collect a large amount of something such as money, information, or knowledge, over time:
Carnegie amassed a fortune in the steel industry.
▪ run up a bill/debt/loss informal to allow a debt to increase quickly, especially by spending too much:
He ran up huge gambling debts.