| 释义 |
▪ I. collapse, n.|kəˈlæps|
[ad. medical L. collāpsus (Littré), n. of state f. collābi to fall together: see next.]
1. The action of collapsing, or of falling or suddenly shrinking together, breaking down, giving way, etc., through external pressure or loss of rigidity or support: originally a term of physiology and medicine.
1833A. T. Christie Epid. Cholera 39 The blood being withdrawn occasions a collapse or contraction of all the soft parts. 1840R. Liston Surgery 507 Collapse of the lung and inflammation. 1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. & Ferns 542 The disappearance of the contents and collapse of the walls.
2. Med.
a. The more or less sudden loss of vital properties and consequent prostration of an organ through exhaustion of nervous and muscular power.
b. The similar failure of the action of the whole system under exhaustion or disease; general prostration of the vital powers; spec. as a stage in Asiatic cholera.
1808Med. Jrnl. XIX. 294 The frequent repetition of their contractions necessarily brings about a collapse. 1859Lang Wand. India 121 The body was on the very verge of collapse. 1866Fagge Princ. & Pract. Med. I. 292 Symptoms..followed..by the development of a very remarkable condition known as ‘Cholera Collapse’. 1875H. Wood Therap. (1879) 649 Collapse from any cause is largely dependent upon, or, more correctly speaking, largely is, vaso-motor palsy.
c. A break-down of mental energy; a sudden loss of courage, spirits, etc.
1801W. Taylor in Month. Mag. XI. 503 The shrinking of humility, the recoil of fear, or the collapse of disgrace. 1856J. H. Newman Callista 197 He sank upon the ground in a collapse of misery.
3. Failure, ‘break-down’ (of an institution, enterprise, established condition of things).
1856Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. i. 8 A general collapse of the trade of the whole country. 1880McCarthy Own Times IV. liii. 140 Filled with shame at the collapse of the enterprise.
4. Timber. Flattening or buckling of wood cells during drying, sometimes resulting in excessive and irregular shrinkage, and hence in a wrinkled appearance of the surface.
1948New Biol. IV. 89 Another seasoning defect known as ‘collapse’ is apt to appear in large-pored hardwoods and in softwoods having thin walled tracheids if premature drying is permitted; the fragile elements actually cave in. 1966A. W. Lewis Gloss. Woodworking Terms 17 Collapse, defect of kiln-dried timber in which the cell walls cave in.
5. attrib., as collapse therapy, the compression of the lung to rest it, or for treatment of diseases of the lung.
1922Brit. Med. Jrnl. i. 954/2 (heading) Collapse therapy in pulmonary tuberculosis. 1959Chambers's Encycl. X. 643/1 Collapse therapy consists of collapsing and immobilizing the diseased lung in a variety of ways.
▪ II. collapse, v.|kəˈlæps|
[f. L. collāps- ppl. stem of collābi to fall together, f. col- together + lābi, lāps- to fall. The ppl. adj. collapsed is found earlier than other parts, having been app. introduced first, to represent L. collāpsus, and having consequently suggested the verb. Miège 1688, and Bailey 1721–66 have collapsed, but not collapse. Johnson has only our first quot.]
1. intr. To fall together, as the sides of a hollow body, or the body itself, by external pressure or withdrawal of the contents, as when an inflated bladder is pierced; to fall into a confused mass or into a flattened form by loss of rigidity or support; to break down, give way, fall in, cave in; to shrink suddenly into a smaller volume, contract.
1732Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 276 The sides of the Canals collapse. 1755in Johnson. 1794Sullivan View Nat. II. 21 The air collapses the moment after the electric matter has passed. 1833J. Rennie Alph. Angling 25 Mr. John Hunter..describes the ear of fishes..in some species crusted over with a thin plate of bone, so as not to allow it to collapse. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. xxiv. 360 The air suddenly collapsed to a fraction of its original dimensions. 1888Pall Mall G. 15 Oct. 8/2 The extensive warehouse..collapsed..and fell outwards with a terrific crash into the street.
2. a. transf. and fig. To break down, come to nothing, fail; to lose force suddenly.
1801Southey Thalaba v. xxxii, The deaden'd roar Echoed beneath, collapsing as it sunk Within a dark abyss. 1882J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 484 The influence of Abbott collapsed in a great degree. 1887Spectator 16 Apr. 531/2 The present agitation would collapse like a pricked bladder.
b. To break down in regard to vital energy, from exhaustion or disease.
1879Beerbohm Patagonia 20 My horse was in imminent peril of collapsing altogether.
c. Suddenly to lose courage, spirit, etc.; to subside, ‘cave in’. (colloq.)
1865Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. xv, The impressible little soul collapsed again.
3. trans.To cause to collapse, break down, fall in, or contract.
1883‘Mark Twain’ Life on Miss. xxv. 240 We burst a boiler; broke a shaft; collapsed a flue. 1891W. C. Sydney Eng. 18th Cent. II. 162 Which culminated in the battle of Culloden Moor, and collapsed the Jacobite cause. 1902S. G. Fisher True Hist. Amer. Revolution 200 Such complete destruction and devastation of the country as would collapse the patriot party. 1904Daily Chron. 8 June 5/3 Kent.., given a pinch of luck, might have collapsed Yorkshire! 1908Practitioner Jan. 54 The urethra is alternately ballooned and collapsed. 1909Westm. Gaz. 22 Apr. 4/2 The wind bringing its whole force to bear on the broadside and collapsing the structure. 1921Mulford Bar 20 Three xviii. 229 Far back..a Mexican collapsed his telescope. 1958Engineering 31 Jan. 133/2 The ends are kept open by springs..which can be depressed..when it is desired to collapse the container. |