Anthology - Do you know what it means

I thought this was collecting flowers, but when, Page 15 of the Open University Course Guide referred to Anthology, thought it time to look it up.

Anthology:
æn l d ) [ad. L. anthologia, a. Gr. (f. - flower + - collection, f. - to gather), applied to a collection of poems. Cf. mod.Fr. anthologie. Later Gr. had also the homonym applied to a hymnal.]

1. A collection of the flowers of verse, i.e. small choice poems, esp. epigrams, by various authors; originally applied to the Greek collections so called.
2. Extended to other literary collections. Also transf., esp. of paintings, songs, etc., and other art forms.
3. With some reference to the original meaning (in Greek) of a flower-gathering.
4. A hymnal [= Gr. ].
5. A treatise on flowers. [A distinct use, on the analogy of zoology, ornithology, etc.: also in Fr.] Obs.


"anthology, ad" The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 4 January 2009