vb, col*lapsed  col*laps*ing vi  1  :  to fall or shrink together abruptly and completely  :  fall into a jumbled or flattened mass through the force of external pressure <a blood vessel that collapsed>   2  :  to break down in vital energy, stamina, or self-control through exhaustion or disease : esp  :  to fall helpless or unconscious vt  :  to cause to collapse <collapsing an infected lung>  col*laps*ibil*i*ty n col*laps*ible adj 
, n 1  :  a breakdown in vital energy, strength, or stamina  :  complete sudden enervation <the daughter's mental through mounting frustration -Leslie Rees>   2  :  a state of extreme prostration and physical depression resulting from circulatory failure, great loss of body fluids, or heart disease and occurring terminally in diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, and pneumonia  3  :  an airless state of a lung of spontaneous origin or induced surgically - see ATELECTASIS   4  :  an abnormal falling together of the walls of an organ < of blood vessels>  .
 
 
 
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