an Aladdin's cave

A place full of treasures. (In The Arabian Nights, Aladdin finds a magic lamp in a cave.) I know you think your garage is full of junk, but to an antiques collector like me, it's an Aladdin's cave! Your playroom is like an Aladdin's cave for my kids—any toys that they don't have at home are positively enchanting! Ooh, I love thrifting! Secondhand shops are an Aladdin's cave for me.

cave in

1. verb To collapse into a hollow area below, as of a physical structure or formation. We were able to get the kids out of the house before the roof caved in. Years of water damage finally caused the drop ceiling in our dining room to cave in. Yikes, I'm amazed this whole house hasn't caved in yet, given how unstable the foundation is.

2. verb To collapse, faint, or die, as from overexertion. I hardly remember the end of the marathon because I caved in as soon as I crossed the finish line. If you don't stay hydrated in this extreme heat, you're liable to cave in. After a full day at the amusement park, we were all ready to cave in—thankfully, our hotel was just a short walk away.

3. verb To submit, concede, or yield (to someone or something); to surrender or acknowledge defeat. Under the threat of a strike, the management caved in and agreed to reinstate annual pay increases for all employees. The king is foolish if he believes our rebellion will ever cave in! Right, like Mom is gonna cave in and let you stay out till midnight when your curfew is 10 PM.

4. noun A collapse into a hollow area below, as of a physical structure or formation. When used as a noun, the phrase is usually hyphenated. The fear of every miner is a cave-in. Would you stop talking about the possibility of a cave-in? I'm feeling claustrophobic enough in here as it is! The structure suffered a complete cave-in, and people are trapped inside!

See also: cave

keep cave

old-fashioned To remain vigilant or carefully watchful (for something or someone); to act as a guard or watch. In this phrase, "cave" derives from a Latin word meaning "beware." The gang employed youths from the area to keep cave and give a signal if any police officers arrived. I offered to keep cave at the door, as I had no intention of risking my life in that creepy old house.

man cave

A room or area of a house designated for a man to retreat from the rest of his family and relax or engage in hobbies. My husband is watching the football game in his man cave right now.

the roof caves in

The situation collapses; everything goes wrong. I was living paycheck to paycheck and getting by OK, but then the roof caved in. I lost my job, and then my car and my house. Our sales have been in a slump for months, and now with all these legal issues cropping up, it just feels like the roof is caving in on our company.

cave in

[for a roof or ceiling] to collapse. The roof of the mine caved in when no one was there. The tunnel caved in on the train.

See also: cave

cave in (to someone or something)

Fig. to give in to someone or something. Finally, the manager caved in to the customer's demands. I refuse to cave in under pressure from my opponent.

See also: cave

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]

See also: cave

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.

an Aladdin's cave

a place full of valuable objects.

keep cave

act as lookout. school slang

Cave is a Latin word meaning ‘beware!’ Pronounced as one or two syllables, cave was the traditional warning uttered by a schoolchild to let others know that a teacher was approaching.

an Aladdin’s ˈcave

a place full of valuable or interesting objects: He kept for his private pleasure an Aladdin’s cave of stolen masterpieces.This expression comes from a story in The Arabian Nights. Aladdin was trapped in a cave full of gold and jewels by a magician.

cave in

To give way; collapse: The sides of the snow fort caved in. The mine shaft caved in on a group of miners, but fortunately they were rescued.

See also: cave

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References in periodicals archive

Spokesman Graham Robertson, 48 - a plumber from Skelmanthorpe - said: "Caving can be unpredictable and there is always the possibility of flooding.

When Huddersfield Caving Group was set up in the mid 1990s, the advertisement read: "Very small group of friends ready to welcome people for walking, camping, cycling, caving."

Today, the club aspect has almost disappeared, but an informal group of caving enthusiasts still meets up occasionally.

The Huddersfield Caving Group existed officially between 1995 and 2006.

Most members of the old Huddersfield Caving Group came from the Denby Dale, Shelley and Skelmanthorpe area.

For Graham - a man with 30 years' caving experience - the Huddersfield Caving Group brings back many pleasant memories.

"Often we'd go camping and engage in lots of different outdoor activities, not just caving."

The NSG was founded in 1955 and acted as an umbrella body for caving enthusiasts throughout the north of England.

Alongside the Huddersfield Caving Group there has been the Huddersfield Technical College Potholing Club and the University of Huddersfield Union Caving Club.

There is little scope for caving in the Huddersfield and Kirklees area, so club members used to make regular visits to the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales.

UNDERGROUND CHALLENGES; Pleasures and perils can be found beneath the ground in an escape regarded as an 'extreme sport' by some Huddersfield university lecturer and sports historian PETER DAVIES discovers a sport beneath the ground

They wore a real caving helmet and explored how it felt to move through restricted and fragile spaces of caves, but above ground and in daylight.

Out of the dark: the making of a cave experience