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cropper

cropper

1 7.5
A small farmer who grows and gathers food plants
  • noun
  • /ˈkrɒpər/
translation icon : campesino
  • Night lends the willows on either bank the appearance of hunched croppers.

Examples

  • You know you didn't have to become a cropper just to get back at me now, did ya?

  • Most of the croppers look hungry.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • The other day I was down at Brinkley's store, and a white cropper said it didn't do any good to kill the riggers because things don't get any better.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • The hardworking cropper spent the long summer days tending to his fields of corn.

  • Each cropper in the community celebrated the harvest festival to share their bountiful yields.

  • During the busy season, the cropper rose at dawn to ensure his crops were harvested in time.

Synonyms

farmer
vscropper
898 1.0

A person who grows crops or raises animals on a farm

is narrower, emphasizing small or share-based farming rather than larger operations
peasant
vscropper
157 3.5

A person who works on land for a living, usually on a small farm

is similar but focuses on small-scale farming, not social status
grower
vscropper
87 2.6

A person who raises plants or crops to sell

is similar but stresses small farm or share-based contexts rather than production alone
sharecropper
vscropper
  • Archaic
14 8.4

A person who grows crops on someone else's land and gives part of the harvest to the landowner

is a small farmer in general, not only one who shares harvest
small farmer
vscropper
9 2.0

A person who owns or works on a small farm to grow food

often overlaps but can include share-based tenancy as a special case
tenant farmer
vscropper
3 3.7

A farmer who rents land from a landowner instead of owning it

is like this but highlights small or share-based farming rather than rent only
smallholder
vscropper
  • UK
1 5.8

A person who farms a small piece of land, often with family help

is the general small-scale farmer role, sometimes share-based or independent
raiser
vscropper
1 4.1

A person who grows crops, often as a job

is more specific to small farmers or share-tenants rather than general growers
cultivator
vscropper
1 4.0

A person who prepares and looks after land to grow crops or plants

is more about small-scale farming and harvesting than technical cultivation
sharecrop
vscropper
  • Archaic
1 7.4

A farmer who works someone else's land and gives the owner part of the harvest

is a small-scale farmer in general, not limited to this rent form
sharecrop farmer
vscropper
  • Archaic
6.8

A farmer who works land owned by someone else and gives the owner part of the crop

is the broader small farming role rather than just this payment type
culturist
vscropper
6.0

A person who grows plants or crops on land

is broader and more technical compared with the small-scale farming sense

Idioms

To fail badly or have a sudden problem

How Independent

landowner
42 2.5
farmer
898 1.0
cropper
1 7.5
farmworker
5 1.6

Surface Forms

cropper singular
croppers plural

Morphology

cropper = crop (transparent) = crop + er

Productive agent/instrument -er added to the verb 'crop' yields 'one who crops' or an instrument that crops; meaning is directly inferred from the base.

Etymology

The word cropper comes from crop ('a plant or harvest') plus -er ('one who does'), so a cropper is someone who works with crops, like a small farmer or harvester.