cropper

[ krop-er ]

noun

1. a person or thing that crops.
2. a person who raises a crop.
3. a person who cultivates land for its owner in return for part of the crop; sharecropper.
4. a plant that furnishes a crop.
5. a cloth-shearing machine.

cropper

/ ˈkrɒpə /

noun

1. a person who cultivates or harvests a crop
2. 1. a cutting machine for removing the heads from castings and ingots
   2. a guillotine for cutting lengths of bar or strip
3. a machine for shearing the nap from cloth
4. a plant or breed of plant that will produce a certain kind of crop under specified conditions

   a poor cropper on light land

5. often capital a variety of domestic pigeon with a puffed-out crop
6. come a cropper informal.
   1. to fall heavily
   2. to fail completely

Word History and Origins

Origin of cropper¹

First recorded in 1475–85; crop + -er ¹

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. come a cropper, Informal.
   1. to fail; be struck by some misfortune:

      His big deal came a cropper.

   2. to fall headlong, especially from a horse.

Example Sentences

Eventually, Eddie Howe's side are going to come a cropper, but at the moment they are finding a way to win games, even if they are relying on moments of brilliance by individual players rather than playing well as a team.

From BBC

Joshua Cropper, 31, of Pitt Street, Southport, who was previously given a Pride of Sefton Award, was caught on video launching rocks, bricks and a concrete slab at the van while officers were inside, Merseyside Police said.

From BBC

Cropper was given a courage award in the 2023 Pride of Sefton Awards for rescuing a number of dogs from a burning house.

From BBC

“I would hate to imagine the education budget being cut, disruption in higher education funding, civil servants being laid off, healthcare coming a cropper,” he said.

From BBC

In 1998, “Coronation Street” viewers were introduced to Hayley Cropper, the first transgender character ever to appear on British television.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• barrier
• bug
• crunch
• difficulty
• disadvantage
• drawback
• glitch
• hitch
• holdup
• hurdle
• impediment
• inconvenience
• obstacle
• stumbling block