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cave in

 - 4 dictionary results

cave-in

[keyv-in]
–noun
1. a collapse, as of anything hollow: the worst cave-in in the history of mining.
2. a place or site of such a collapse.
3. submission to something or someone previously opposed or resisted: His cave-in to such unreasonable demands shocked us.

Origin:
1700–10; n. use of v. phrase cave in

cave

[keyv] noun, verb, caved, cav⋅ing.
–noun
1. a hollow in the earth, esp. one opening more or less horizontally into a hill, mountain, etc.
2. a storage cellar, esp. for wine.
3. English History. a secession, or a group of seceders, from a political party on some special question.
–verb (used with object)
4. to hollow out.
5. Mining.
a. to cause (overlying material) to fall into a stope, sublevel, or the like.
b. to cause (supports, as stulls or sets) to collapse beneath overlying material.
c. to fill (a stope or the like) with caved-in material: sub-level caving.
–verb (used without object)
6. to cave in.
7. cave in,
a. to fall in; collapse.
b. to cause to fall in or collapse.
c. Informal. to yield; submit; surrender: The opposition caved in before our superior arguments.

Origin:
1175–1225; ME < OF < LL cava (fem. sing.), L cava, neut. pl. of cavum hole, n. use of neut. of cavus hollow


cavelike, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

cave  (n.)
c.1220, from O.Fr. cave "a cave," from L. cavea "hollow" (place), neut. plural of adj. cavus "hollow," from PIE base *keu- "a swelling, arch, cavity." Replaced O.E. eorðscrafu. First record of cave man is 1865.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

cave in

  1. Fall in, collapse, as in The earthquake made the walls cave in. [Early 1700s]

  2. Give in, admit defeat, as in The prosecutor's questions soon made the witness cave in. [Early 1800s]

  3. Collapse, faint, or die from exhaustion, as in After a twenty-mile hike I caved in. [Mid-1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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