collapse

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collapse

Wikipedia

From Latin collāpsus (past participle of collābor).

• IPA^(key): /k(ə)ˈlæps/

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• Rhymes: -æps

collapse (third-person singular simple present collapses, present participle collapsing, simple past and past participle collapsed)

1. (intransitive) To break apart and fall down suddenly; to cave in.
   • 1843, Samuel Maunder, The Scientific and Literary Treasury:

     A balloon collapses when the gas escapes from it.

2. (intransitive) 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.

3. (intransitive) To fold compactly.
4. (transitive, computing) In a hierarchical list (such as a directory tree or table of contents), to hide the subentries of (an entry).

   Antonym: expand

5. (intransitive, cricket) To suffer a batting collapse.
6. (transitive) To cause something to collapse.

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

   • 2023 August 9, Paul Clifton, “Network News: Family-friendly travel: new standard covers pushchairs”, in RAIL, number 989, page 26:

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

7. (intransitive) 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.

collapse (countable and uncountable, plural collapses)

1. The act of collapsing.

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

   • 2012 April 21, Jonathan Jurejko, “Newcastle 3-0 Stoke”, in BBC Sport‎:

     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.

   • 2021 May 5, Paul Clifton, “Network News: Heathrow Western Rail Access scheme 'on hold'”, in RAIL, number 930, page 26:

     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. Constant function, one-valued function (in automata theory) (in particular application causing a reset). (Can we add an example for this sense?)
3. (cricket) Ellipsis of batting collapse.

• Capellos, escallop

• Homophones: collapsent, collapses

collapse

1. inflection of collapser:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

collāpse

1. vocative masculine singular of collāpsus