diff --git a/py-polars/polars/dataframe/frame.py b/py-polars/polars/dataframe/frame.py
index 94cb0ef997e11..d176a6c67f63c 100644
--- a/py-polars/polars/dataframe/frame.py
+++ b/py-polars/polars/dataframe/frame.py
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
     BinaryIO,
     Callable,
     ClassVar,
-    Collection,
     Generator,
     Iterable,
     Iterator,
@@ -124,6 +123,8 @@
         AsofJoinStrategy,
         AvroCompression,
         ClosedInterval,
+        ColumnNameOrSelectorCollection,
+        ColumnNameOrSelectorSequence,
         ColumnTotalsDefinition,
         ComparisonOperator,
         ConditionalFormatDict,
@@ -4512,9 +4513,7 @@ def limit(self, n: int = 5) -> Self:
 
     def drop_nulls(
         self,
-        subset: (
-            str | SelectorType | Collection[str] | Collection[SelectorType] | None
-        ) = None,
+        subset: ColumnNameOrSelectorCollection | None = None,
     ) -> DataFrame:
         """
         Drop all rows that contain null values.
@@ -6028,7 +6027,7 @@ def extend(self, other: DataFrame) -> Self:
 
     def drop(
         self,
-        columns: str | Collection[str] | SelectorType,
+        columns: ColumnNameOrSelectorCollection,
         *more_columns: str | SelectorType,
     ) -> DataFrame:
         """
@@ -6473,15 +6472,8 @@ def fill_nan(self, value: Expr | int | float | None) -> DataFrame:
 
     def explode(
         self,
-        columns: (
-            str
-            | Expr
-            | SelectorType
-            | Sequence[str]
-            | Sequence[Expr]
-            | Sequence[SelectorType]
-        ),
-        *more_columns: str | Expr | SelectorType,
+        columns: str | Expr | Sequence[str | Expr],
+        *more_columns: str | Expr,
     ) -> DataFrame:
         """
         Explode the dataframe to long format by exploding the given columns.
@@ -6489,8 +6481,8 @@ def explode(
         Parameters
         ----------
         columns
-            Name of the column(s) to explode. Columns must be of datatype List or Utf8.
-            Accepts ``col`` expressions as input as well.
+            Column names, expressions, or a selector defining them. The underlying
+            columns being exploded must be of List or Utf8 datatype.
         *more_columns
             Additional names of columns to explode, specified as positional arguments.
 
@@ -6540,9 +6532,9 @@ def explode(
 
     def pivot(
         self,
-        values: str | Sequence[str] | SelectorType,
-        index: str | Sequence[str] | SelectorType,
-        columns: str | Sequence[str] | SelectorType,
+        values: ColumnNameOrSelectorSequence | None,
+        index: ColumnNameOrSelectorSequence | None,
+        columns: ColumnNameOrSelectorSequence | None,
         aggregate_function: PivotAgg | Expr | None | NoDefault = no_default,
         *,
         maintain_order: bool = True,
@@ -6772,9 +6764,7 @@ def unstack(
         self,
         step: int,
         how: UnstackDirection = "vertical",
-        columns: (
-            str | SelectorType | Sequence[str] | Sequence[SelectorType] | None
-        ) = None,
+        columns: ColumnNameOrSelectorSequence | None = None,
         fill_values: list[Any] | None = None,
     ) -> DataFrame:
         """
@@ -6916,7 +6906,7 @@ def unstack(
     @overload
     def partition_by(
         self,
-        by: str | SelectorType | Iterable[str] | Iterable[SelectorType],
+        by: ColumnNameOrSelectorSequence,
         *more_by: str,
         maintain_order: bool = ...,
         include_key: bool = ...,
@@ -6927,7 +6917,7 @@ def partition_by(
     @overload
     def partition_by(
         self,
-        by: str | SelectorType | Iterable[str] | Iterable[SelectorType],
+        by: ColumnNameOrSelectorSequence,
         *more_by: str,
         maintain_order: bool = ...,
         include_key: bool = ...,
@@ -6937,7 +6927,7 @@ def partition_by(
 
     def partition_by(
         self,
-        by: str | SelectorType | Iterable[str] | Iterable[SelectorType],
+        by: ColumnNameOrSelectorSequence,
         *more_by: str | SelectorType,
         maintain_order: bool = True,
         include_key: bool = True,
@@ -8005,9 +7995,7 @@ def quantile(
 
     def to_dummies(
         self,
-        columns: (
-            str | SelectorType | Sequence[str] | Sequence[SelectorType] | None
-        ) = None,
+        columns: ColumnNameOrSelectorSequence | None = None,
         *,
         separator: str = "_",
         drop_first: bool = False,
@@ -8086,9 +8074,7 @@ def to_dummies(
 
     def unique(
         self,
-        subset: (
-            str | SelectorType | Collection[str] | Collection[SelectorType] | None
-        ) = None,
+        subset: ColumnNameOrSelectorCollection | None = None,
         *,
         keep: UniqueKeepStrategy = "any",
         maintain_order: bool = False,
@@ -9105,7 +9091,7 @@ def to_struct(self, name: str) -> Series:
 
     def unnest(
         self,
-        columns: str | SelectorType | Sequence[str] | Sequence[SelectorType],
+        columns: ColumnNameOrSelectorCollection,
         *more_columns: str | SelectorType,
     ) -> Self:
         """
diff --git a/py-polars/polars/lazyframe/frame.py b/py-polars/polars/lazyframe/frame.py
index 2bc5a3b3ab6ff..727e0ec23a697 100644
--- a/py-polars/polars/lazyframe/frame.py
+++ b/py-polars/polars/lazyframe/frame.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
     Any,
     Callable,
     ClassVar,
-    Collection,
     Iterable,
     NoReturn,
     Sequence,
@@ -81,6 +80,8 @@
     from polars.type_aliases import (
         AsofJoinStrategy,
         ClosedInterval,
+        ColumnNameOrSelectorCollection,
+        ColumnNameOrSelectorSequence,
         CsvEncoding,
         FillNullStrategy,
         FrameInitTypes,
@@ -3304,7 +3305,7 @@ def with_context(self, other: Self | list[Self]) -> Self:
 
     def drop(
         self,
-        columns: str | Collection[str] | SelectorType,
+        columns: ColumnNameOrSelectorCollection,
         *more_columns: str | SelectorType,
     ) -> Self:
         """
@@ -4303,15 +4304,8 @@ def quantile(
 
     def explode(
         self,
-        columns: (
-            str
-            | Expr
-            | SelectorType
-            | Sequence[str]
-            | Sequence[Expr]
-            | Sequence[SelectorType]
-        ),
-        *more_columns: str | Expr | SelectorType,
+        columns: str | Expr | Sequence[str | Expr],
+        *more_columns: str | Expr,
     ) -> Self:
         """
         Explode the dataframe to long format by exploding the given columns.
@@ -4319,8 +4313,8 @@ def explode(
         Parameters
         ----------
         columns
-            Name of the column(s) to explode. Columns must be of datatype List or Utf8.
-            Accepts ``col`` expressions as input as well.
+            Column names, expressions, or a selector defining them. The underlying
+            columns being exploded must be of List or Utf8 datatype.
         *more_columns
             Additional names of columns to explode, specified as positional arguments.
 
@@ -4357,9 +4351,7 @@ def explode(
 
     def unique(
         self,
-        subset: (
-            str | SelectorType | Collection[str] | Collection[SelectorType] | None
-        ) = None,
+        subset: ColumnNameOrSelectorCollection | None = None,
         *,
         keep: UniqueKeepStrategy = "any",
         maintain_order: bool = False,
@@ -4444,9 +4436,7 @@ def unique(
 
     def drop_nulls(
         self,
-        subset: (
-            str | SelectorType | Collection[str] | Collection[SelectorType] | None
-        ) = None,
+        subset: ColumnNameOrSelectorCollection | None = None,
     ) -> Self:
         """
         Drop all rows that contain null values.
@@ -4544,8 +4534,8 @@ def drop_nulls(
 
     def melt(
         self,
-        id_vars: str | Sequence[str] | SelectorType | None = None,
-        value_vars: str | Sequence[str] | SelectorType | None = None,
+        id_vars: ColumnNameOrSelectorSequence | None = None,
+        value_vars: ColumnNameOrSelectorSequence | None = None,
         variable_name: str | None = None,
         value_name: str | None = None,
         *,
diff --git a/py-polars/polars/type_aliases.py b/py-polars/polars/type_aliases.py
index c716fe6bbc4e3..66c3cfe5c7237 100644
--- a/py-polars/polars/type_aliases.py
+++ b/py-polars/polars/type_aliases.py
@@ -68,8 +68,14 @@
 IntoExpr: TypeAlias = Union["Expr", PythonLiteral, "Series", None]
 ComparisonOperator: TypeAlias = Literal["eq", "neq", "gt", "lt", "gt_eq", "lt_eq"]
 
-# selector type and column
+# selector type, and related collection/sequence
 SelectorType: TypeAlias = "_selector_proxy_"
+ColumnNameOrSelectorCollection: TypeAlias = Union[
+    str, SelectorType, Collection[Union[str, SelectorType]]
+]
+ColumnNameOrSelectorSequence: TypeAlias = Union[
+    str, SelectorType, Sequence[Union[str, SelectorType]]
+]
 
 # User-facing string literal types
 # The following all have an equivalent Rust enum with the same name