sinkhole, noun

Origin:
U.S. EnglishShow more Transferred use of (chiefly) U.S. English sinkhole ‘a hole, cavern, or funnel-shaped cavity made in the earth by the action of water on the soil, rock, or underlying strata, and frequently forming the course of an underground stream’ (OED).
A deep cavity in the ground caused by a sudden subsidence resulting from undermining (particularly in the gold fields of the Rand). Also attributive.
1970 Rand Daily Mail 16 Nov. 1Families are preparing to evacuate eight houses..because of the enormous sinkhole which appeared..three weeks ago...The new sinkhole, measuring 100 ft. by 70 ft. and about 70 ft. deep, appeared in pasture land near the East Driefontein mine...It is continuing to cave in.
1971 Personality 8 Jan. 66One of the events of the year was the death of Bank — the Transvaal town which had to be totally evacuated because of sinkholes.
1971 Argus 5 May 23The photographs..record..the sinkhole menace on the West Witwatersrand.
1972 P. Driscoll Wilby Conspiracy 178Sinkholes had become something of an object lesson in the mining engineer’s handbook..great, almost literally bottomless pits that opened without warning.
1977 Sunday Times 30 Oct. 7Many of the stands could not be built on because of sinkhole danger.
A deep cavity in the ground caused by a sudden subsidence resulting from undermining (particularly in the gold fields of the Rand). Also attributive.
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Topography and Physical Features
Sindebele, nounn.sinkings, nounn.
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