trooper

[ troo-per ]

See synonyms for: trooper troopers on Thesaurus.com

noun

a state trooper.
a mounted police officer; a police officer on horseback.

a soldier in a cavalry that uses horses.
Also troup·er . a persevering, dependable person who works hard or who bravely endures adversity: He's a real trooper, even when the going gets tough.
a cavalry horse.
Chiefly British. a troopship.

Origin of trooper

First recorded in 1630–40; troop + -er¹

word story For trooper

A trooper was originally a soldier (or member of a troop ), especially one in a cavalry unit. The sense of trooper as "a persevering, dependable person who works hard or bravely endures adversity" owes itself to the identically pronounced word trouper, meaning "an actor" (from troupe, "a company of actors"). Always committed to their stage production even under the most difficult and distracting conditions, troupers gained a reputation for perseverance and grit—traits that also happen to be typical of a soldier on the battlefield. Thus, under the influence of their identical sound, both words came to be used for the same thing. More recently, as trouper gave way to actor, the association of perseverance and grit with "soldiering on" outflanked the association with "the show must go on," and the spelling trooper for this sense won out. However, the spelling trouper is also correct. Ultimately, troop and troupe both come from the same French root meaning "flock or herd."

Words that may be confused with trooper

trooper , trouper

Words Nearby trooper

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use trooper in a sentence

The governor said additional state troopers will be assigned to every county in an “all-hands-on-deck” operation designed to prevent what he called superspreader events and to educate the public about existing restrictions.
D.C. adds tougher coronavirus restrictions as infection rates continue to rise | Julie Zauzmer, Erin Cox | November 23, 2020 | Washington Post
Police said the crash that occurred shortly before midnight in Arlington County sent a state trooper to the hospital.
Authorities looking for woman who fled scene after her car hit a Virginia State Police vehicle on I-66 | Luz Lazo | November 8, 2020 | Washington Post
One officer who allegedly tried to get a state trooper to dismiss his cousin’s drunken driving charge returned to work in 2017 after striking a deal for pretrial intervention, according to court documents and a news story.
How Criminal Cops Often Avoid Jail | by Andrew Ford, Asbury Park Press | September 23, 2020 | ProPublica
On two occasions, a state trooper looked for Mouser at the home Stewart shared with her mother and stepfather.
Her Stepfather Admitted to Sexually Abusing Her. That Wasn’t Enough to Keep Her Safe. | by Nadia Sussman | September 18, 2020 | ProPublica
Those two partial days of searching, in December 1987 and April 1988, were all that troopers devoted to finding Mouser, records show.
Her Stepfather Admitted to Sexually Abusing Her. That Wasn’t Enough to Keep Her Safe. | by Nadia Sussman | September 18, 2020 | ProPublica

Eric Frein eluded Pennsylvania police for seven weeks after he allegedly killed a state trooper with a sniper shot.
Killer Eric Frein Held in Murdered Cop’s Cuffs | Michael Daly | October 31, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The trooper reached with her right hand for her expandable baton.
The Muslim Convert Behind America’s First Workplace Beheading | Michael Daly | September 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
“Marijuana has been around for a long time,” Colorado State trooper Nate Reid tells The Daily Beast.
The Truth About Driving While Stoned | Abby Haglage | June 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
And the trooper says, ‘Has anybody you know that lives near the girls been up to this camp?’
The Stacks: The Searing Story of How Murder Stalked a Tiny New York Town | E. Jean Carroll | April 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Not that one really needs a reason to dress up like Chewbacca or a Storm trooper.
CPAC: Come for the Crazy, Stay for the Party | Michelle Cottle | March 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
She held it while the trooper bent over the strange scrawl, and ran his eyes along it to learn the context.
The Red Year | Louis Tracy
Why didn't he send a trooper to report at once instead of wasting time in going to Stony Crossing?
Raw Gold | Bertrand W. Sinclair
If there should happen t' be a stray trooper hangin' round there, the same would be mighty awkward for you fellers.
Raw Gold | Bertrand W. Sinclair
"There's one road to advancement, and you know where to find the trooper's duty laid down plain," he said, with a dry smile.
Winston of the Prairie | Harold Bindloss
The trooper went out, and when his comrade came in, Stimson laid a strip of paper before him.
Winston of the Prairie | Harold Bindloss

British Dictionary definitions for trooper

trooper

/ (ˈtruːpə) /

noun

a soldier in a cavalry regiment
US and Australian a mounted policeman

US a state policeman
a cavalry horse
informal, mainly British a troopship

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with trooper

trooper

see swear like a trooper.

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