Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A small bed-and-platen printing-press invented by George P. Gordon (1858) of New York, but named from the machinist (H. S. Cropper) who introduced it into Great Britain.
- noun A fall, as from horseback; especially, a fall in which the rider is thrown neck and crop over the horse's head; hence, failure in an undertaking.
- noun A breed of pigeons with a large crop. See
pouter . - noun A machine for facing cloth.
- noun A powerful hand-tool for cutting off bolts or iron rods.
- noun A plant which furnishes a crop: qualified by large or small, heavy or light, etc.
- noun One who raises a crop or crops on shares; one who cultivates land for its owner in consideration of part of the crop.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun One that crops.
- noun A variety of pigeon with a large crop; a pouter.
- noun (Mech.) A machine for cropping, as for shearing off bolts or rod iron, or for facing cloth.
- noun Slang. A fall on one's head when riding at full speed, as in hunting; hence, a sudden failure or collapse.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a
fall , atumble ; seecome a cropper - noun a person who nurtures and gathers a crop
- noun a variety of plant producing a good harvest
- noun A machine for cropping, as for shearing off bolts or rod iron, or for facing cloth.
- noun a breed of domestic
pigeon with large crop
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun small farmers and tenants
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Thus the cropper was a worker, not an owner; his status was halfway between a kind of serfdom and the autonomy of ownership.
A History of American Law Lawrence M. Friedman 1985
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Thus the cropper was a worker, not an owner; his status was halfway between a kind of serfdom and the autonomy of ownership.
A History of American Law Lawrence M. Friedman 1985
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Thus the cropper was a worker, not an owner; his status was halfway between a kind of serfdom and the autonomy of ownership.
A History of American Law Lawrence M. Friedman 1985
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Humor likes to explode pretension, pedantry, dignity, pomposity; we get a feeling of joy whenever those who are superior come a cropper, which is increased when we feel that they have no right to their places.
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But it probably doesn't affect anything even remotely, except to boost the morale of the looney Fascists of Hamas, their Euro-wally supporters, et al. But that is not necessarily bad, it may encourage them to get over-confident, over-step "the mark" and come the proverbial "cropper".
On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2009
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The "cropper" is barely a step advanced above the laborer, for he, too, furnishes nothing but labor, while the landlord supplies house, tools, live stock, and seed.
Our Foreigners A Chronicle of Americans in the Making Samuel Peter Orth 1897
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There would be no 'cropper' which a man could 'come' so bad as would be his cropper were he to marry Marie Melmotte, and then find that he was not to have a shilling!
The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope 1848
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a well-developed "cropper;" his dromedary had put its foot in a hole, and had fallen with a suddenness generally unknown to the cameline race.
The Land of Midian — Volume 2 Richard Francis Burton 1855
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"It isn't the first 'cropper' I have come; I shouldn't have minded at all, only for my head.
Three Margarets Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards 1896
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Carl Levin's political witch hunt comes a cropper.
Crime & Punishment & Goldman Jr. Holman W. Jenkins 2011
kalidas commented on the word cropper
his delusions and the croppers they cost him -- Edmund Wilson
to see their betters come a cropper -- Tyrone Guthrie
January 2, 2007
hernesheir commented on the word cropper
A printing press, a pigeon, a farmer, a fall from a horse. You pick.
November 22, 2011