Brewer's: Collapse

The scheme collapsed. Came to nothing. An inflated balloon is said to collapse when the gas has escaped and the sides fall together, or pucker into wrinkles. As a collapsed balloon will not mount, a collapsed scheme will not go off. (Latin, collapsus, collabor, to fall or sink together.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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