implode
/ɪmˈpləʊd
/verb
Collapse or cause to collapse violently inwards: [no object]: both the windows had imploded [with object]: the plasma implodes the fuel...
- The window to my left bowed inwards, then imploded in a spray of bottle-green glass and the carriage jerked violently to the side under me, slamming me into the upholstered wall.
- The south tower collapsed on itself, imploding with a force that sent up a cloud of dust and debris so dense it could be seen by satellites orbiting Earth.
- The plasma flying out from the ablation layer implodes the fuel, compressing its density about a thousand times and causing it to burn.
Origin
Late 19th century: from in-2 'within' + Latin plodere, plaudere 'to clap', on the pattern of explode.
explode from mid 16th century:
In Roman days bad performers were exploded, for explode comes from Latin explodere ‘to drive off with hissing or clapping, to boo off the stage’, from ex- ‘out’ and plaudere ‘to clap’ (see plaudit). Early meanings of explode were ‘to reject scornfully’, and ‘to show to be false’ (still used in phrases like explode a theory). The modern sense appeared in the late 18th century via the sense ‘to force out violently and noisily’. Implode was formed on the pattern of explode in the late 19th century using in- ‘within’.