subs. (common).—A heavy fall or failure of any kind; generally ‘to come a CROPPER.’ [Originally hunting.] Analagous French phrases are avoir une discussion avec le pavé (literally ‘to argue with the pavement’); prendre un billet de parterre (a punning play upon words: the pit of a theatre is parterre; par terre = on the ground: hence to take a ticket for the pit); se lithographier (popular). For synonyms in a metaphorical sense, see GO TO POT.
1868. Echoes from the Clubs, 23 Dec. ‘Pleasures of the Hunting Field.’ In short, it is fox-hunting which … induces the belief that life is a mistake without occasional CROPPERS.
1869. H. J. BYRON, Not such a Fool as He Looks [French’s Acting ed.], p. 8. Mr. Topham Sawyer missed his own tip as well as his wictim’s, and CAME DOWN A CROPPER on a convenient doorstep.
1880. A. TROLLOPE, The Duke’s Children, ch. lxvii. Talking to his father he could not quite venture to ask what might happen if he were TO ‘COME A CROPPER.’
1883. Daily News, 24 Jan., p. 5, col. 3. Ouida treads ‘alone, aloft, sublime’ where Astræa might fear to pass, and though she COMES what men call CROPPERS over a thousand details, she is sublimely unconscious of her blunders.
