cropper
[krop-er]
- a person or thing that crops.
- a person who raises a crop.
- a person who cultivates land for its owner in return for part of the crop; sharecropper.
- a plant that furnishes a crop.
- a cloth-shearing machine.
- come a cropper, Informal.
- to fail; be struck by some misfortune: His big deal came a cropper.
- to fall headlong, especially from a horse.
Origin of cropper
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cropper
Contemporary Examples
Despite some electoral successes, these efforts have largely come a cropper, especially with the defeat of Mitt Romney in 2012.
Historical Examples
There is bound to come a cropper somewhere––usually where you least expect it.
The Gorgeous GirlNalbro Bartley
A horseman had come a cropper a little distance down the lane.
The Hero of Garside SchoolJ. Harwood Panting
He'll be redheaded if he knows I am to blame for his coming a cropper.
The Pony Rider Boys in New MexicoFrank Gee Patchin
Our favourite of all, was a large handsome pouter or cropper.
Live ToysEmma Davenport
Yes, he could be sure of that; I had come one cropper that day, and it was enough.
The South Pole, Volumes 1 and 2Roald Amundsen
cropper
- a person who cultivates or harvests a crop
- a cutting machine for removing the heads from castings and ingots
- a guillotine for cutting lengths of bar or strip
- a machine for shearing the nap from cloth
- a plant or breed of plant that will produce a certain kind of crop under specified conditionsa poor cropper on light land
- (often capital) a variety of domestic pigeon with a puffed-out crop
- come a cropper informal
- to fall heavily
- to fail completely
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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