collapse

verb

1. 1

   To break apart and fall down suddenly; to cave in.

   A balloon collapses when the gas escapes from it.

2. 2

   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.

   However much we like to think of ourselves as something special in world history, in fact industrial societies are subject to the same principles that caused earlier societies to collapse.

3. 3

   To fold compactly.

4. 4

   figurativeTo conflate, to ignore the distinctions between.

5. 5

   In a hierarchical list (such as a directory tree or table of contents), to hide the subentries of (an entry).

6. 6

   To suffer a batting collapse.

   Immediately after his wicket the team collapsed for 69.

7. 7

   To cause something to collapse.

   Hurry up and collapse the tent so we can get moving.

   Thomas added: "We presented our experiences of frantically trying to collapse a pram, surrounded by loads of grumpy commuters.

8. 8

   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.

noun

1. 1

   The act of collapsing.

   She suffered a terrible collapse after slipping on the wet floor.

   in a state of nervous collapse

   The top six are assured of continental competition and after making a statement of intent against Stoke, it would take a dramatic collapse for Newcastle to surrender their place.

   However the collapse in demand for rail and air travel caused by the pandemic has had a knock-on effect for the project's funding.

2. 2

   Constant function, one-valued function (in automata theory) (in particular application causing a reset).

3. 3

   Variant of batting collapseEllipsis of batting collapse.

Forms

plural

collapses

past tense

collapsed

past participle

collapsed

present participle

collapsing

third person singular

collapses