Come a cropper

A slang phrase meaning "To have a physical accident", often a serious one. It applies especially to accidents in which you fall down or trip and fall. In general, it means to to be brought low by gravity and momentum. It can mean to lose control whilst travelling at speed and colide with a stationary object or impact the ground.

This phrase is generaly applied to people and sometimes to cyclists. It is less frequently applied to more more mechanised forms of conveyance. It is less frequently applied to abstract derailments.

Among a circle of friends spread across North Staffordshire and South Cheshire, "to come a cropper" is the most commonly used phrase. Its original meaning, as defined above, has been somewhat altered.

Anyone or anything can come a cropper. If you fail an exam, you have come a cropper in it. If you get very drunk and become ill, you have also come a cropper. Plans can all too easily come a cropper.

The phrase has also been adapted to fit more or less any meaning. A person can be a cropper, a crop or even a croppé. One can be feeling croppersome or cropperish. If everything has gone wrong, you could be said to be well and truly croppered. This final word is reserved for the most serious of come a croppers.