lie in ruins meaning

• [American slang]
  to exist in a state of ruin, such as a destroyed city, building, scheme, plan, etc.
    The entire city lay in ruins.
    My garden lay in ruins after the cows got in and trampled everything.

• in ruins:    [American slang]in ...
• lay in ruins:    [American slang]Go ...
• lie:    Verb: lie (lay,lai ...

Examples

1. soon, this house will lie in ruins
2. pack your belongings for exile, you who live in egypt, for memphis will be laid waste and lie in ruins without inhabitant
3. Entire neighborhoods in the ZOS still lie in ruins.
4. In Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, three more Danubian bridges lie in ruins.
5. Elsewhere, 10, 000 trees lie in ruin.