Definition of "amass" []

• To gather for oneself, as for one's pleasure or profit: amassed a fortune. See Synonyms at gather. (verb-transitive)
• To accumulate or assemble a large quantity of: "The astronomers had amassed compelling evidence that the galaxies indeed were speeding away from the earth and from each other” ( George Johnson). (verb-transitive)
• To come together; collect. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The more people you can put out of work, the more dependent you can make them on government, the more Democrat voters you have, the more political power you can amass, which is what all good statists down through history have sought: total domination and control."
• "Since his 1998 appointment as forestry minister, Obiang used his title to amass much of his fortune, prosecutors say."
• "The historians Blackburn and Ricards concluded that while prostitutes in Virginia City were not the richest people in town, they did amass more wealth than most of their customers."