cropper

views updated Jun 08 2018

crop·per / ˈkräpər/ • n. 1. a plant that yields a crop of a specified kind or in a specified way: the white-fleshed varieties are the heaviest croppers.2. a machine or person that cuts or trims something, such as wool off a sheep or the pile of a carpet during manufacture.3. a person who raises a crop, esp. as a sharecropper.PHRASES: come a cropper inf. fall heavily. ∎  suffer a defeat or disaster.