Meaning of 崩れかける

Question

I'm having some difficulties understanding the construction 崩れかけた in

博士たちは崩れかけた門をくぐり、中へ入っていった。

I couldn't find it as a single word, so I take it is constructed from 崩れる and かける. My guess is that it's the stem form of 崩れる joined with かける (equivalent to the て form to join to verbs), but I'm not sure.
崩れる means something like collapsed so I was thinking it referred to a collapsed gate. I don't know what かける adds to this though...
Can someone shine some light on this?

Earthliŋ · Answer

かける can be used as an subsidiary verb to mean "start to [verb]", so 崩れかけた is indeed the 連用形 ren'yōkei (masu-stem) of 崩れる followed by かけた.
崩れかけた門 means "a gate, which has started to break down / deteriorate". Of course you would usually translate this more directly, maybe (for lack of a better word) "deteriorating / wrecked gate".
See for example

When is <verb stem>+かける's meaning to start and leave unfinished?
Correct use of かけて

Meaning of 崩れかける

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