Meaning of come a cropper | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To fall headlong from a horse.
2. To suffer some accident or misfortune; to fail.
   British, idiomatic
3. To die.
   informal

Examples

“She came a cropper on the stairs and broke her leg.”

“I should feel⟳ certain that I should come⟳ a cropper, but still I'd try⟳ it. As you say⟳, a fellow should try⟳.”

“You couldn't help⟳ feeling he'd be caught out one day, and then what an almighty cropper he'd come⟳!”

“We are accustomed to seeing Morphy conquer brilliantly against great odds; but this time he comes a cropper.”

“You tried to convey too much and you conveyed nothing. You came a cropper, major.”

“We had been taught Latin, French and German grammar; but English grammar was something we felt we were expected to infer from our reading – which is doubtless why I came a cropper over “its” and “it’s”.”

“Although they were meant to reach⟳ the Moon no matter⟳ what, cryptocurrencies are also coming a cropper.”

““No, Cynthia is a protégée of my mother’s, the daughter of an old schoolfellow of hers, who married a rascally solicitor. He came a cropper, and the girl was left an orphan and penniless. My mother came to the rescue⟳, and Cynthia has been with us nearly two years now.””

CEFR level