Come a cropper
verb, slang
verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To fall headlong from a horse.
- 2 To suffer some accident or misfortune; to fail. British, idiomatic
"She came a cropper on the stairs and broke her leg."
- 3 To die. informal
"“No, Cynthia is a protégée of my mother’s, the daughter of an old schoolfellow of hers, who married a rascally solicitor. He came a cropper, and the girl was left an orphan and penniless. My mother came to the rescue, and Cynthia has been with us nearly two years now.”"
Example
More examples"She came a cropper on the stairs and broke her leg."
Etymology
Possibly from the phrase neck and crop, in which crop may refer to the backside of a horse.