the.com/trooper
Someone who keeps marching after everyone else would've quit and complained.
means A person who endures hardship or setbacks without fuss and just keeps going — also, literally, a soldier or mounted/state police officer.
from Rooted in 'troop,' from French troupe (a group of soldiers), ultimately from a Latin/Romance word tied to a 'herd' or 'flock.' A 'trooper' was originally a cavalry soldier — hence the phrase 'swear like a trooper,' from the rough, hard-bitten reputation of soldiers in the ranks. The sense of 'uncomplaining, tough endurer' grew out of that soldierly grit, especially in the phrase 'a real trooper.'
- origin
- soldier in a cavalry unit, originally
- phrase shift
- real trooper now just means uncomplaining
- state trooper
- US highway cops borrowed the cavalry swagger
- not blooper
- commonly confused with trouper, the stage version