[f. CROP sb. or v. + -ER.]
1. One who or that which crops.
1483. Cath. Angl., 84. A Cropper, decimator.
1881. Sat. Rev., No. 1319. 182. One can imagine Cicero … imploring the binder to leave the rough edges, and imploring in vain…. But … binders were often slaves, and an angry amateur would throw the cropper to feed the lampreys.
2. A workman who shears the nap of cloth; a cloth-shearer; also, a machine for doing this.
1711. Thoresby, Diary (1830), II. 89. A fund for the aged and poor croppers at 2d or 4d per cloth.
1888. F. Peel, Luddites, 42. The discontented croppers of Liversedge.
3. One who raises a crop, or successive crops.
Locally in U.S. and elsewhere used more or less specifically: see quots.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 44. What croppers bee here learne to see. Ibid., 50. Though breadcorne and drinkcorn such croppers do stand: count peason or brank, as a comfort to land.
1850. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XI. II. 727. The land is occupied by tenants called Croppers, who pay rents amounting to 5l. or 6l. per acre, which they are enabled to pay by never letting the land lie idle, and growing crops of vegetables in rapid succession, which they carry to the Bristol market.
1886. Q. Rev., Oct., 109. A cropper hires for two years, at a low rent from a squatter, a bit of waste land, undertaking to clear it and grow wheat upon it. After this it is ready for English grass. To succeed, a cropper must work hard with his own hands.
1889. Farmer, Dict. Amer., Cropper, a farmer on commission, the consideration being … calculated by the proprietor on the basis of the crop produced.
4. A plant that yields a crop. (Usually with qualification.)
1845. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., VI. II. 352. The best croppers for feeding cattle.
1882. Garden, 14 Jan., 19/3. Apples and Pears … having the stamp of excellent croppers.
5. Comb. Cropper-worker: One who works a cropping-machine (for cloth).
1891. Labour Commission, Glossary of Terms.
