cropper

1. (normally confined to the expression come a cropper) A fall, a tumble; a decided failure.Examples: "But to myself I thought: ‘Considering that for eight whole years I sat on the front bench as top of the class while he drifted about somewhere in the middle, he can hardly fail to nourish a wish, left over from his schooldays, that some day or other I may come a complete cropper.’"; "You're riding for a fall, Healey, you know that? There are hedges and ditches ahead and you are on course for an almighty cropper."