Cropper
name, noun ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A fall, a tumble; a decided failure.
"But to myself I thought: ‘Considering that for eight whole years I sat on the front bench as top of the class while he drifted about somewhere in the middle, he can hardly fail to nourish a wish, left over from his schooldays, that some day or other I may come a complete cropper.’"
- 2 A breed of domestic pigeon with large crop.
- 3 A person who nurtures and gathers a crop.
- 4 A machine for cropping, as for shearing off bolts or rod iron, or for facing cloth.
- 5 small farmers and tenants wordnet
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- 6 A variety of plant producing a good harvest.
"The mango tree cannot be regarded as a reliable cropper."
- 1 An English surname originating as an occupation for a cropper.
- 2 An unincorporated community in Shelby County, Kentucky, United States, named after founder James Cropper.
- 3 A hamlet in Osleston and Thurvaston parish, South Derbyshire district, Derbyshire, England (OS grid ref SK2335).
Example
More examples"Tom passed three of his five exams, and came a cropper in two."
Etymology
See come a cropper.
From crop + -er, in reference to a bird's crop.
From crop + -er (occupational suffix) or + -er (relational suffix), in reference to agricultural crops.
From crop + -er, from the verb.
Related phrases
More for "cropper"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.