collapse

See Also: DISINTEGRATION

1. Caved in like a sinkhole —Jonathan Valin
2. Caving in like a mud dam —Kurt Rheinheimer
3. (Periods in one’s life that once seem important until you look back on them) collapsed as flat as packing cartons —Jonathan Penner

   In a short story entited Emotion Recollected in Tranquility, the author tied collapsed packing carton comparison to the collapse of part of one’s life.

4. Collapsed like an elephant pierced by a bullet in some vital spot —Kingsley Amis
5. Collapsed like a rotten tree —Erich Maria Remarque
6. Collapsed like a rump-shot dog —T. Coraghessan Boyle
7. (Half a dozen career daydreams) collapsed like a telescope —Thomas McGuane
8. Collapsed like a wounded soldier in the mud —Z. Vance Wilson
9. Collapsed to the floor like a tent that has had all the guy ropes and poles removed at the same time —Jimmy Sangster
10. Collapsed upon the sea as if his body had telescoped into itself, like a picnic beaker —Joyce Cary
11. (His body) collapsed vertically like a punctured concertina —Frank Ross

    An older, simpler variation by Irving Cobb: “Fold up like a concertina.”

12. (One day would) collapse like a peony —Jilly Cooper
13. Collapse like a sack of meal —Anon

    The sack of meal as a comparison linked to falling, collapsing or toppling has seeded so much use and extension that one can only list some of its in-print appearances: “Went over like a sack of meal” (Frank O’Connor); “Fall heavily, like a sack of meal” (S. J. Perelman); “Went down … like an empty sack” (John M. Synge); “Dropped, like a flour sack falling from a loft” (Gerald Kersh). Most commonly overheard in everyday conversation is “Collapse like an empty paper bag.”

14. Collapse like a snowman in the sun —Anon
15. Collapse like a tent when the pole is kicked out from under it —Loren D. Estleman
16. Collapse … like empty garments —Joyce Cary Collapse like sandcastles against the ocean tide —Anon
17. Collapse like a punctured blister —Mike Sommer
18. Collapse like the cheeks of a starved man —Charles Dickens
19. Collapsing like a cardboard carton thrown on a bonfire —Margaret Atwood
20. Comes apart [no longer able to control laughter] like a slow-ripping seam —Sharon Sheehe Stark
21. Crashed on the leather sofa, going down like a B-52 with a bellyful of shrapnel —Jonathan Kellerman
22. [Souvenirs of a romance] crumble like flowers pressed in dictionaries —Judith Martin
23. Crumble like tinder —Anon
24. (A small white house that was) crumbling at the corners like stale cake left out on a plate —Jonathan Valin
25. Crumbling like one of those dry sponge cakes —Francis King
26. Crumpled like caterpillars on mulberry leaves —James Purdy
27. (She) crumpled like paper crushed in a fist and began to cry —Harold Adams
28. Crumpled up as if he were a paper flower —Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
29. Crumples like a used-up piece of paper —Daphne Merkin
30. [Gulls] downed … like a tumbled kite —John Hall Wheelock
31. (The bird) dropped like an arrow —Leo Tolstoy
32. Dropped like an elephant’s trunk —Eudora Welty
33. Dropped like one hit in the head by a stone from a sling —Eudora Welty
34. Drops like a piece of flotsam —T. Coraghessan Boyle
35. Falling as gently and slowly as a kite —Elizabeth Hardwick
36. Fall over like a frozen board —William H. Gass
37. Fall to the floor like misfired cannon balls —John Updike
38. (She’s welcome to climb with man if she wishes … and) fall with a crash like a trayful of dishes —Amy Lowell
39. Fell as low as a toad —American colloquialism, attributed to Midwest
40. (Accents of peace and pity) fell like dew (upon my heart) —Percy Bysshe Shelley
41. Fell … like insects knocked off by a gardener’s spray —Derek Lambert
42. Fell like one who is seized with sleep —Dante Alighieri
43. Fell slowly forward like a toppling wall —Stephen Crane
44. Fell to her knees like a nun seeking sudden forgiveness —James Crumley
45. Flopped like the ears of a dog —Edgar Allan Poe
46. Folded up like a pocket camera —George Ade
47. Fold up like a cheap camera —Anon
48. [First baseman] goes down slow as a toppling tree —W. P. Kinsella
49. Going under [dying] like shipwrecked sailors —Thomas Keneally
50. (Let life face him with a new demand on his understanding and then watch him) go soggy, like a wet meringue —D. H. Lawrence
51. He dropped like a bullock, he lay like a block —Rudyard Kipling
52. (When I tell him he must go, he suddenly) hits the floor like a toppled statue —Louise Erdrich
53. Hit the floor like an anvil —Joseph Wambaugh
54. (Slumped to the floor and) lay there like a punctured balloon —Myron Brinig

    Some variations on the balloon comparison: “I was going down … like a child’s balloon as it gradually lets out air” (Eugene Ionesco’s play, The Stroller in the Air); “Ripples to the pavement like a deflated balloon” from T. Coraghessan Boyle’s novel, Water Music, Little.

55. Like an emptying tube, after a couple of minutes he collapses —Erich Maria Remarque
56. Over she went … like a little puff of milkweed —Eudora Welty
57. Pitched forward like a felled tree —Oakley Hall
58. (His heaving bulk suddenly) sagged, like a sail bereft of wind —Jan Kubicki
59. [Old man] scrunched like an old gray fetus —Grace Paley
60. Thudded like a bird against the glass wall —Ross Macdonald
61. Topple over like a doll with a round base —Wilfrid Sheed
62. Tumble down like a house of cards —George Du Maurier

    The many twists on tumbling, falling or collapsing cards as comparisons include Robert Browning’s “Fell like piled-up cards” and Edith Wharton’s “Collapsed like a playing card.”

63. Tumbled down like the Tower of Babel —Bernard Malamud
64. Tumbling dumb as a ninepin —Sharon Sheehe Stark
65. We fell to the carpet like leaves circling in a light wind —James Crumley
66. Went down like a ninepin —Edith Wharton

    This still popular simile to describe a sudden fall was probably in use before its appearance in Wharton’s story, The Pelican.

67. Went down like a plumb line —Lawrence Durrell
68. Went down like a pole-axed steer —Donald Seaman
69. Went over [after being hit] like a paper cut-out and lay just as flat as one —Cornell Woolrich