To suddenly fall down or break apart because something loses its strength or structure.
From Latin collapsus, past participle of collabi meaning to fall together, from com- (together) and labi (to fall). Originally used for physical structures, it extended to describe human exhaustion.
When a building collapses and when a person collapses, they're both using the same metaphor—your body is treated like a structure that can lose its support, which is why we say someone 'broke down' crying in the same way a bridge does.
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