Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
curse like a pagan en · VERB
Pronunciation
Meanings
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(qualifier:simile) Synonym of swear like a trooper.
The Febrers returned to their house covered with renown even in defeat; one bearing the golden testimonial of the Caesar’s friendship; the other, the knight commander, lying on a litter, cursing like a pagan because the blockading of Algiers had been discontinued.
1920, Frances Douglas, The Dead Command, translation of Los Muertos Mandan by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, page 114:When his father saw him he fumed terribly, cursing like a pagan, and asking whether his son were a roysterer fit for the gallows as well as a fool fit for a cassock.
1902, Hilaire Belloc, The Path to Rome:[…]from the moment the guide announced he had lost his way, my factotum took leave at once of his courage and his senses and began to weep like a child and curse like a pagan.
1857, Robert Walter Stewart, The tent and the khan: A journey to Sinai and Palestine, page 482:
Forms
Synonyms
swear like a trooper