氣跑掉：實體的東西變小變扁
這一組就是核心畫面本身，還沒有被借去比喻任何東西：有形的東西被抽掉裡面的空間，所以縮小。
verb · B2
If something filled with air or gas deflates, or if you deflate it, the air comes out and it gets smaller, softer and flatter — a tyre, a balloon, an air bed, a ball.
洩氣、消風
核心畫面
One way to hold deflate: something is packed tight and standing up full, and then a plug comes out. The air runs away, the walls fall in, and what is left is the same thing, only smaller, softer and flatter. Nothing breaks and nothing leaves the room. Every use of the word is that one picture with a different thing inside it — a tyre, a person's confidence, a big-sounding claim, the money moving through a country.
可以想成一個鼓得滿滿、撐得直挺挺的東西，忽然被拔掉塞子。氣往外跑，外殼一點一點垮下來，變小、變軟、變扁。東西沒有破，…更多收起
可以想成一個鼓得滿滿、撐得直挺挺的東西，忽然被拔掉塞子。氣往外跑，外殼一點一點垮下來，變小、變軟、變扁。東西沒有破，也沒有不見，只是不再撐著了。deflate 的每一個意思幾乎都是這個畫面換了主角：有時候垮掉的是輪胎，有時候是一個人的信心，有時候是一句講得很滿的主張，有時候是一個國家裡流動的錢。From the word’s history
Wiktionary records deflate as coined in 1891, about balloons, from de- (away) plus Latin flō (blow) plus -ate. So the oldest use is literally taking away what was blown in — which is exactly the picture the later uses reuse.
維基詞典記載 deflate 是 1891 年造出來的字，一開始講的就是氣球：de-（去掉、拿走）加上拉丁文 flō（吹）再加 -ate。字面意思就是「把吹進去的東西拿走」，後來的每一個用法都借用同一個畫面。
Wiktionary entry for deflate (kaikki extract, source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:542560532:16067): From de- + (in)flate. Coined in 1891, in reference to balloons.
Three branches
人或說法被放掉氣
同一個畫面搬到看不見的東西上：撐著一個人的是信心，撐著一段話的是它聽起來的份量，兩者都可以被一下子抽掉。
verb · B2
To make someone suddenly feel much less proud, confident or excited, often by saying something flat about what they have done, or by saying nothing at all.
使洩氣、打擊信心
經濟裡的通貨緊縮
經濟學把同一個畫面放到最大：市場上的錢和信用就是灌進去的氣，收回來，物價就消下去。
verb · C1
In economics: to change the rules or conditions in a country so that prices fall or stop rising, usually by reducing the money and credit people can get; also used of an economy in which this happens.
使通貨緊縮