[Ads-l] to cave

[Ben Zimmer]

On Sun, Apr 10, 2016 at 10:32 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I saw the following headline after Speith's failure to win the Master's
> after a 7 on the par-3 12th:
>
> WSJ NEWS ALERT: Danny Willett Wins Masters After Jordan Spieth Caves on the
> 12th Hole
>
> Does the OED have "cave", without "in", meaning collapse?

Yep.

1844   Spirit of Times 23 Mar. 42/2   List 'till I tell you, and if
you do not agree with me, why, I'll cave.
1855   ‘P. Paxton’ Capt. Priest 64   The one who ‘caves’ first shall
pay the shot.
1858   N.Y. Tribune 1 May 4/2   One..of the six South American
opponents of Lecompton caved; the others stood firm.
1860   J. G. Holland Miss Gilbert's Career xxii. 390,   I tell you
when a man gets in front of him Sunday, he catches it—no use
dodging—might as well cave.
1863   C. Reade Hard Cash I. 287   ‘Now I cave.’
1961   ‘A. A. Fair’ Stop at Red Light (1962) xi. 169   The guy
caved... The guy broke down and admitted the whole damned business.

> I note that, in 1996, Greg Norman was said to "cave in" when he lost to
> Nick Faldo.
>
> https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AHdVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ET8NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1859%2C7870568

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