English
collapse
Collapse comes from Latin collāpsus ‘collapsed, fallen in, having collapsed’, and goes back to lābor ‘glide, slip, fall’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElābor‘glide, slip, fall’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcollābor
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcollāpsus‘collapsed, fallen in, having collapsed’
- Englishearliest quotation 1843collapse
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElābor‘glide, slip, fall’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcollābor
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcollāpsus‘collapsed, fallen in, having collapsed’
- Englishearliest quotation 1843collapse
Earliest quotation: 1843, Samuel Maunder: “A balloon collapses when the gas escapes from it.”
Linked words
through Latin lābor ‘glide, slip, fall’
labour, laboratory, elaborate, lava, laborious, relapse, labile, elapse, 10 more
Today it means
verb To break apart and fall down suddenly; to cave in.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin lābor / collapse