trooper

curse like a trooper

To use profanities or vulgar language very freely or frequently. (An allusion to the rough language presumed to be used by military personnel.) My granny is the sweetest old lady you'll ever meet, but she curses like a trooper when she gets to talking about someone or something she doesn't like. My little sister has been cursing like a trooper ever since she started college.
See also: curse, like, trooper

cuss like a trooper

To use profanities or vulgar language very freely or frequently. (An allusion to the rough language presumed to be used by military personnel.) My granny is the sweetest old lady you'll ever meet, but she cusses like a trooper when she gets to talking about someone or something she doesn't like. My little sister has been cussing like a trooper ever since she started college.
See also: cuss, like, trooper

lie like a trooper

To lie often and barefacedly. My brother lies like a trooper to get out of trouble with our parents. I just can't understand how they still believe him at this stage. You know you have true power when you can lie like a trooper, know that people don't believe you, and know that they'll go along with what you say regardless.
See also: lie, like, trooper

swear like a trooper

To use profanities or vulgar language very freely and fluently. (An allusion to the rough language presumed to be used by military personnel.) My granny is the sweetest old lady you'll ever meet, but she swears like a trooper when she gets on the topic of something or someone she doesn't like.
See also: like, swear, trooper
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

swear like a trooper

to curse and swear with great facility. (The trooper here refers to a soldier.) Mrs. Wilson was known to swear like a trooper on occasion. The clerk started swearing like a trooper, and the customer started crying.
See also: like, swear, trooper
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

swear like a trooper

Freely utter profanity or obscenity, as in The teacher was shocked when she heard one of the fathers begin to swear like a trooper. The troopers in this term were the cavalry, who were singled out for their swearing from the early 1700s on.
See also: like, swear, trooper
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

swear like a trooper

If someone swears like a trooper, they swear a lot. Mo was rude and abusive and swore like a trooper. Note: Nouns such as sailor or marine are sometimes used instead of trooper. The show has a heroine who drinks like a fish and swears like a sailor. Note: A trooper is a soldier.
See also: like, swear, trooper
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

lie like a trooper

tell lies constantly and flagrantly. Compare with swear like a trooper (at swear).
See also: lie, like, trooper

swear like a trooper

swear a great deal.
A trooper was originally a private soldier in a cavalry unit. Troopers were proverbial for their coarse behaviour and bad language at least as early as the mid 18th century: in Pamela ( 1739–40 ), Samuel Richardson writes ‘she curses and storms at me like a Trooper’. Compare with lie like a trooper (at lie).
See also: like, swear, trooper
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

swear like a ˈtrooper

(old-fashioned, British English) use many swear words; use bad language: She’s only fourteen, but she swears like a trooper.
A trooper is a soldier.
See also: like, swear, trooper
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

swear like a trooper

in. to curse and swear with great facility. The clerk started swearing like a trooper, and the customer started crying.
See also: like, swear, trooper
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

swear like a trooper, to

To spew forth profanity and/or obscenity. The troopers in question were the cavalry, who probably were no more apt to swear than other military men. Nevertheless, they were singled out from the early eighteenth century on, beginning with the unknown author of The Devil to Pay at St. James’s (1727).
See also: like, swear
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • a tough cookie
  • a tough customer/cookie
  • appear to
  • a change of heart
  • a mystery to (one)
  • be in high spirits
  • be in high/low spirits
  • be in low spirits
  • a turn of phrase
  • able to do
References in periodicals archive
A Wheeling man has been charged with attempted murder, accused of shooting and wounding an Illinois state trooper who was serving a warrant at the man's home.
Illinois trooper dies in shootout
The trooper testified at a suppression hearing that, based on the DMV records, he believed that he was required to conduct an investigation.
Fourth Department split over traffic stop
18 in New Bern that Trooper Chris Justice is entitled to $6 million from Greyhound Lines and bus driver J.L.
Jury Awards $7M to North Carolina Trooper, Wife in Greyhound Bus Accident Suit
"Here, the objective facts available to the trooper indicated that the defendant may have been a danger to himself or others.
Search and seizure - Community caretaking - Motorist
Grasso, who was not involved in the case, said the key fact in the decision appeared to be that the defendant driver answered "no" when asked by the trooper whether he had ever been arrested.
Criminal background check, exit order valid
Although the agency is called the Highway Patrol, troopers take on many tasks.
State's Highway Patrol still facing staffing shortages
However, the trooper, who was a resident of Utter Pradesh succumbed later, the officer said.
Another BSF trooper shoots self near Srinagar airport
On Thursday, the agency released an email Director Steve McCraw sent to all DPS employees stating that it had rescinded the decision, allowing the troopers employed under the retire/rehire program to stay on in their current roles.
DPS reverses decision to lay off more than 100 older officers
During most of that time the troopers were given their choice of carrying them on-safe or off-safe.
Safeties saving lives
"I really don't know," the trooper said to another trooper.
Video shows officer's sobriety test
According to the police report, Trooper Stephen Hazelton said a desk officer at the state police's Sturbridge barracks notified him of a white pickup truck headed north on the southbound side of I-395 about 1 a.m.
Police: Wrong-way driver was drunk; Leicester woman pleads not guilty
ISLAMABAD -- ,,, An Indian trooper shot five of his colleagues to death before shooting himself at an Army camp in Ganderbal district in Indian occupied Kashmir.
Indian trooper kills five colleagues before killing self in IHK
State Trooper Preston Fulford testified that he smelled a slight odor of alcohol when he approached the limo but the car's occupants denied drinking.
Mint condition: cool, refreshing DWI
Ricky Trooper had been booked to play Ruskin Hall in Aston tonight, but the veteran Jamaican entertainer - who has already been banned from entering the US - was refused a work visa by the Home Office.
Music star denied visa over YouTube gun clip
Editor's note: In case you were wondering about Trooper Mark Donaldson, who was mentioned in the story about Sabi, the explosive detection dog missing for a year we ran in the April issue, here's his story from the Australian Dept.
Trooper awarded VC