collapse
/kəˈlæps/ verb B2- To break apart and fall down suddenly; to cave in. · The wall collapsed when it was hit by the wrecking ball.
- To cease to function due to a sudden breakdown; to fail suddenly and completely. · Pyramid schemes tend to generate profits for a while and then collapse.
- To fold compactly.
- To conflate, to ignore the distinctions between.
- In a hierarchical list (such as a directory tree or table of contents), to hide the subentries of (an entry).
- To suffer a batting collapse. · Immediately after his wicket the team collapsed for 69.
- To cause something to collapse. · Hurry up and collapse the tent so we can get moving.
- To pass out and fall to the floor or ground, as from exhaustion or other illness; to faint. · The exhausted singer collapsed on stage and had to be taken to the hospital.
He/she/it collapses · Past collapsed · Past participle collapsed · -ing form collapsing
Verb forms
- Base form
- collapse
- He/she/it
- collapses
- Past
- collapsed
- Past participle
- collapsed
- -ing form
- collapsing
From the library
Marilla turned quickly away to hide her twitching face; but it was no use; she collapsed on the nearest chair and burst into such a hearty and unusual peal of laughter that Matthew, crossing the yard outside, halted in amazement.
If a home is happy it cannot fit too close—let the dresser collapse and become a billiard table; let the mantel turn to a rowing machine, the escritoire to a spare bedchamber, the washstand to an upright piano; let the four walls come together, if they will, so you and your Delia are between.
The next the whole frame collapsed again, and Holmes had gone as quickly as he had come.
Physiologists seriously suggested that a runner attempting to break this threshold might collapse from extreme physical exertion.
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