From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgo to piecesgo to piecesNERVOUSif a person or what they do goes to pieces, they are so upset or nervous that they cannot live, work, or perform as they should He just went to pieces after his wife died. Her performance goes to pieces when her father is watching. → piece
Examples from the Corpus
go to pieces• I almost went to pieces in that room.• The ship broke in half, tumbled over the precipice, and went to pieces.• Keeping busy was the only thing that kept her from going to pieces during the divorce.• It seems he goes to pieces in a crisis, then.• With their old taboos discredited, they immediately go to pieces, disintegrate, and become re-sorts of vice and disease.• I was so nervous in my driving test I just went to pieces.• When they lost the family business, Liz went to pieces.• That's perhaps why things began to go to pieces when the boy was born.• He was going to pieces inside, just as Lorton intended, and he didn't like it. 