cave in

cave in idiom
  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 © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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