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cropper
come a cropper
Fig. to have a misfortune; to fail. (Meaning 'fall off one's horse.') Bob invested all his money in the stock market just before it fell. Boy, did he come a cropper. Jane was out all night before she took her final. She really came a cropper.
come a cropper
to fail or be less successful than before I don't feel sorry for them - took a risk and it came a cropper for them.
come a cropper
1. (British informal) to fall to the ground Supermodel Naomi Campbell came a cropper last week on the catwalk of a Paris fashion show.
2. (British informal) to make a mistake or to have something bad happen to you which makes you less successful than before The leading actor came a cropper when he forgot his lines halfway through the second act.
come a cropper
To fail utterly.
come a-cropper
To fail badly. “Cropper” comes from a horse's croup or crupper, the part of the animal's back behind the saddle. Someone who parted company from his horse (an involuntary dismount, so to speak) was said to fall “neck and crop.” That became “come a-cropper,” first appearing in the foxhunting author Robert S. Surtees' 1858 novel Ask Mamma: [He] “rode at an impracticable fence, and got a cropper for his pains.” The phrase was picked up and applied to any misadventure, equestrian or otherwise.