Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RU'IN, v.i.

1. To fall into ruins. Milton.
2. To run to ruin; to fall into decay or be dilapidated. Though he his house of polish'd marble build, / Yet shall it ruin like the moth's frail cell. Sandys.
3. To be reduced; to be brought to poverty or misery. If we are idle, and disturb the industrious in their business, we shall ruin the faster. Locke. Note. This intransitive use of the verb is now unusual.