keel over

British  

verb

1. to turn upside down; capsize

2. informal (intr) to collapse suddenly

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keel over Idioms  

1. Collapse, as if in a faint; also, faint. For example, When she heard the awful news, she keeled over. This term alludes to a vessel rolling on its keel and capsizing. [Mid-1800s]

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Example Sentences

Otherwise, he said “we’d be playing with fire if we didn’t comply. We’d feel pretty bad if a boy keeled over. I can hear them coughing and hacking.”

From Los Angeles Times

The only way to deploy this exhausting strategy without keeling over is to be fit.

From The Wall Street Journal

It keeled over with a shriek of metal and hit the next lamppost, which collapsed sideways into the next.

From Literature

Both men were overcome with emotion during the ceremony, in tears, and Rinderknech keeled over and had to be helped into a chair.

From Barron's

It’s the humidity, which has spiked to over 80%, that has them feeling ready to keel over between sets.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• pass out