• КАК ШВЕД (ПОД ПОЛТАВОЙ) пропал, погиб, горит и т.п. coll, often humor
[как + NP; nom only; adv; fixed WO]
=====
⇒ (one was or is about to be) destroyed, ruined; (one finds o.s.) in a hopeless, disastrous situation:
- (perish <be destroyed etc>) like a Swede at Poltava;
- go up in smoke;
- [when the verb is in fut or subjunctive](perish <be destroyed etc>) as surely as a Swede at Poltava.
♦ "С хорошею, может быть, душой был человек, а вот пропал, как швед, от пьянства и беспорядка!" (Достоевский 2). "He was probably a man of good soul, and then came to grief like a Swede at Poltava, from drinking and disorder!" (2a).
♦ "Воровал мой оголец, как ни попадя [ungrammat = всё, что попадётся]. Я тряпье на базар таскала. Сколько верёвочке ни виться... Сгорели мы, как шведы. Он подельников выгораживал, всё на себя взял, ему на всю катушку, а мне, по моей глупости, - пять без поражения" (Максимов 3). "He stole everything he could lay his hands on, this man of mine. I used to take it all down to the market to sell. It caught up with us in the end. We went up in smoke. He wouldn't squeal on his mates, he took all the blame, so they gave him the full treatment and I got five years without deprivation of rights for being stupid" (3a).
—————
← Refers to the 1709 battle at Poltava, in which Russian troops won a decisive victory over the Swedes.
Большой русско-английский фразеологический словарь. — М.: ACT-ПРЕСС КНИГА. С.И. Лубенская. 2004.