curse like a pagan

curse like a pagan

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

curse like a pagan

1. (simile) to swear very rudely
   • 1902, Hilaire Belloc, The Path To Rome‎:

     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.

   • 1857, Robert Walter Stewart, The tent and the khan: A journey to Sinai and Palestine, page 482:

     […] 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.

   • 1920, ‎Frances Douglas, The Dead Command, translation of Los Muertos Mandan by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, page 114:

     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.

Synonyms

• swear like a pagan
• curse like a sailor, swear like a sailor
• curse like a trooper, swear like a trooper

Translations

swear very rudely — see swear like a trooper