Definition of "Trojan"

Farewell he, he was a kinde good fellow, a true Troyan: and it euer be my lucks to meete him at more leaſure, Ile make him full amendes with a Cup full of Canarie.

1600, William Kempe, Kemps nine daies vvonder

Mortified as he was at this suspension of his plan, he had, at any rate, the full satisfaction of knowing not only that he himself had discharged his duty, but that every one under him had done the same, from Jim Bell, who fought like a Trojan, to little Dewhurst, his aide-de-camp, whose first smell of powder this was.

1837, William Johnson Neale, Gentleman Jack: a naval story, page 193

We have twice had all we wanted in the way of squalls: once, as I came on deck, I found the green sea over the cockpit coamings and running down the companion like a brook to meet me; at that same moment the foresail sheet jammed and the captain had no knife; this was the only occasion on the cruise that ever I set hand to a rope, but I worked like a Trojan, judging the possibility of haemorrhage better than the certainty of drowning.

1893, Robert Louis Stevenson, Tales of the South Seas

Leave all to me, and I'll bring you through it like a Trojan.

2014, R. Shelton Mackenzie, Bits of Blarney, page 49

You know you should get up but the thought of making your way to the bathroom to wash is like a trojan task. Why bother?

2009, D. P. Greene, Couples, page 104