The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Anthology \An*thol"o*gy\, n. [Gr. ?, fr. 'anqolo`gos flower
   gathering; 'a`nqos flower + le`gein to gather.]
   1. A discourse on flowers. [R.]
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A collection of flowers; a garland. [R.]
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A collection of flowers of literature, that is, beautiful
      passages from authors; a collection of poems or epigrams;
      -- particularly applied to a collection of ancient Greek
      epigrams.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Gr. Ch.) A service book containing a selection of pieces
      for the festival services.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

anthology
    n 1: a collection of selected literary passages