Cropper
['krɒpə] or ['krɑpɚ]
Definition
(n.) One that crops.
(n.) A variety of pigeon with a large crop; a pouter.
(n.) A machine for cropping, as for shearing off bolts or rod iron, or for facing cloth.
(n.) A fall on one's head when riding at full speed, as in hunting; hence, a sudden failure or collapse.
Checked by Bertrand
Definition
n. a fall; failure.—Come a cropper to have a fall perhaps from phrase 'neck and crop.'
Edited by Christine
Examples
- Well, well: it's a pity she didn't go back before Beaufort's cropper, he repeated. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- Diggory withdrew with an emphatic step, Wildeve's eye passing over his form in withering derision, as if he were no more than a heath-cropper. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- They were small, hardy animals, of a breed between Galloway and Exmoor, and were known as heath-croppers here. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Yes, middling--except where the heath-croppers walk into it. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- They were about a score of the small wild ponies known as heath-croppers. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Two he'th-croppers down here, he said aloud. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- If you were, miss, he replied, in a week's time you would think no more of Wildeve than of one of those he'th-croppers that we see yond. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Our two heath-croppers are in the habit of straying into the meads, and tomorrow evening you can go and see if they are gone there. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- At this moment one of the heath-croppers feeding in the outer shadows was audibly shaking off the clog attached to its foot. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
Typed by Arlene