cropper
- 01 C1 Advanced
a person who grows crops on a farm, especially fruit and vegetables
a person who grows or harvests crops; in US history, often short for 'sharecropper', a tenant farmer who paid rent with a share of the harvest
Simple“The cropper sold his apples at the market.”
In context“After years of drought, the cropper had to sell his land and find work in the city.”
- 02 C2 Proficiency
used in the British phrase 'come a cropper': to fall over hard, or to fail suddenly and completely
in the idiom 'come a cropper' (British, informal): to suffer a heavy physical fall, originally from a horse; figuratively, to fail badly or suffer a sudden, complete defeat
Simple“He came a cropper on the icy steps outside the shop.”
In context“The ambitious politician came a cropper when leaked emails revealed his backroom dealings, ending his campaign within a week.”
In the compound verb phrase "come a cropper," the article is fixed and the expression is intransitive.
“A gate lock was broken with bolt croppers, NRW said, and signs were "torn down" to enable the vehicles to gain access, despite "clear signage" stating that private vehicles were not permitted.”
“Hapless visitors came a cropper after following sat nav to notorious Welsh beach”
From the phrase come a cropper, itself of uncertain origin — possibly from the verb crop in its sense of cutting or harvesting, with a cropper being one who receives the cut.
From crop + -er, a formation in reference to a bird's crop.
From crop + -er, either the occupational suffix (one who works with crops) or the relational suffix (that which pertains to crops), first attested in reference to agricultural crops.
From crop + -er, the agent noun suffix attached to the verb.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.