SOLDIER DEFINITIONS - 17 definitions found
soldier n 1: an enlisted man or woman who serves in an army; "the soldiers stood at attention" 2: a wingless sterile ant or termite having a large head and powerful jaws adapted for defending the colony v 1: serve as a soldier in the military Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003) soldier I. noun Etymology: Middle English soudeour, from Anglo-French soudeer, soudeour mercenary, from soudee shilling's worth, wage, from sou, soud shilling, from Late Latin solidus solidus Date: 14th century 1. a. one engaged in military service and especially in the army b. an enlisted man or woman c. a skilled warrior 2. a militant leader, follower, or worker 3. a. one of a caste of wingless sterile termites usually differing from workers in larger size and head and long jaws b. one of a type of worker ants distinguished by exceptionally large head and jaws 4. one who shirks work • soldierly adjective or adverb • soldiership noun II. intransitive verb (soldiered; soldiering) Date: 1647 1. a. to serve as a soldier b. to behave in a soldierly manner c. to push doggedly forward — usually used with on <soldiered on to the end> 2. to make a pretense of working while really loafing Oxford English Reference Dictionary
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner\'s English Dictionary soldier (soldiers, soldiering, soldiered) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. A soldier is a person who works in an army, especially a person who is not an officer. N-COUNT English Explanatory Dictionary soldier ˈsəuldʒə n. & v. --n. 1 a person serving in or having served in an army. 2 (in full common soldier) a private or NCO in an army. 3 a military commander of specified ability (a great soldier). 4 (in full soldier ant) a wingless ant or termite with a large head and jaws for fighting in defence of its colony. 5 (in full soldier beetle) a reddish-coloured beetle, Rhagonycha fulva, with flesh-eating larvae. --v.intr. serve as a soldier (was off soldiering). øsoldier of Christ an active or proselytizing Christian. soldier of fortune an adventurous person ready to take service under any State or person; a mercenary. soldier on colloq. persevere doggedly. øøsoldierly adj. soldiership n. [ME souder etc. f. OF soudier, soldier f. soulde (soldier's) pay f. L solidus: see SOLIDUS] 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue SOLDIER A red herring. SOLDIER He stands erect; his slouch becomes a walk; He steps right onward, martial in his air, His form and movement. The Task, Bk. IV. W. COWPER. A braver soldier never couched lance, A gentler heart did never sway in court. King Henry VI., Pt. I. Act iii. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE. Unbounded courage and compassion joined, Tempering each other in the victor's mind, Alternately proclaim him good and great, And make the hero and the man complete. * * * * * And, pleased the Almighty's orders to perform, Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm. The Campaign. J. ADDISON. So restless Cromwell could not cease In the inglorious arts of peace. But through adventurous war Urged his active star. A Horatian Ode: Upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland. A. MARVELL. 'T is the soldier's life To have their balmy slumbers waked with strife. Othello, Act ii. Sc. 3. SHAKESPEARE. Some for hard masters, broken under arms, In battle lopt away, with half their limbs, Beg bitter bread thro' realms their valor saved. Night Thoughts, Night I. DR. E. YOUNG. His breast with wounds unnumbered riven, His back to earth, his face to heaven. The Giaour. LORD BYRON. Wut's words to them whose faith an' truth On War's red techstone rang true metal, Who ventured life an' love an' youth For the gret prize o' death in battle? The Biglow Papers, Second Series, No. X. J.R. LOWELL. God's soldier he be! Had I as many sons as I have hairs. I would not wish them to a fairer death: And so his knell is knolled. Macbeth, Act v. Sc. 8. SHAKESPEARE. O, now, forever Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content! Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars, That make ambition virtue! O, farewell! Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump, The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife, The royal banner, and all quality, Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war! And, O you mortal engines, whose rude throats The immortal Jove's dread clamors counterfeit, Farewell! Othello's occupation's gone! Othello, Act iii. Sc. 3. SHAKESPEARE. Handy Dictionary of Poetical Quotations Soldier A soldier; Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth. SHAKESPEARE: As You Like It, Act ii., Sc. 7. And but for these vile guns, He would himself have been a soldier. SHAKESPEARE: 1 Henry IV., Act i., Sc. 3. The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay, Sat by his fire, and talk'd the night away; Wept o'er his wounds, or, tales of sorrow done, Shoulder'd his crutch, and show'd how fields were won. GOLDSMITH: Des. Village, Line 155. How shall we rank thee upon glory's page, Thou more than soldier, and just less than sage? MOORE: To Thomas Hume. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Soldier \Sol"dier\, v. i. 1. To serve as a soldier. 2. To make a pretense of doing something, or of performing any task. [Colloq.U.S.] Note: In this sense the vulgar pronounciation (s[=o]"j[~e]r) is jocosely preserved. It needs an opera glass to discover whether the leaders are pulling, or only soldiering. --C. D. Warner. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Soldier \Sol"dier\, n. [OE. souldier, soudiour, souder, OF. soldier, soldoier, soldeier, sodoier, soudoier, soudier, fr. L. solidus a piece of money (hence applied to the pay of a soldier), fr. solidus solid. See Solid, and cf. Sold, n.] 1. One who is engaged in military service as an officer or a private; one who serves in an army; one of an organized body of combatants. I am a soldier and unapt to weep. --Shak. 2. Especially, a private in military service, as distinguished from an officer. It were meet that any one, before he came to be a captain, should have been a soldier. --Spenser. 3. A brave warrior; a man of military experience and skill, or a man of distinguished valor; -- used by way of emphasis or distinction. --Shak. 4. (Zo["o]l.) The red or cuckoo gurnard ({Trigla pini}.) [Prov. Eng.] 5. (Zo["o]l.) One of the asexual polymorphic forms of white ants, or termites, in which the head and jaws are very large and strong. The soldiers serve to defend the nest. See Termite. Soldier beetle (Zo["o]l.), an American carabid beetle ({Chauliognathus Americanus}) whose larva feeds upon other insects, such as the plum curculio. Soldier bug (Zo["o]l.), any hemipterous insect of the genus Podisus and allied genera, as the spined soldier bug ({Podius spinosus}). These bugs suck the blood of other insects. Soldier crab (Zo["o]l.) (a) The hermit crab. (b) The fiddler crab. Soldier fish (Zo["o]l.), a bright-colored etheostomoid fish ({Etheostoma c[oe]ruleum}) found in the Mississippi River; -- called also blue darter, and rainbow darter. Soldier fly (Zo["o]l.), any one of numerous species of small dipterous flies of the genus Stratyomys and allied genera. They are often bright green, with a metallic luster, and are ornamented on the sides of the back with markings of yellow, like epaulets or shoulder straps. Soldier moth (Zo["o]l.), a large geometrid moth ({Euschema militaris}), having the wings bright yellow with bluish black lines and spots. Soldier orchis (Bot.), a kind of orchis ({Orchis militaris}). International Standard Bible Encyclopedia SOLDIER sol'-jer. See ARMY. Soldier, IA (city, FIPS 73785) Location: 41.98461 N, 95.77963 W Population (1990): 205 (112 housing units) Area: 0.8 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 51572 Soldier, KS (city, FIPS 66175) Location: 39.53784 N, 95.96460 W Population (1990): 135 (56 housing units) Area: 0.4 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 66540 Soule\'s Dictionary of English Synonyms soldier n. 1. Warrior, fighting man, man at arms. 2. Private, common soldier. 3. White ant, termite. English Explanatory Dictionary (Synonyms) soldier ˈsəuldʒə n. 1 serviceman, servicewoman, recruit, fighter, infantryman, foot-soldier, trooper, warrior, military man, man-at-arms, Brit Tommy (Atkins), US enlisted man or woman, Colloq Brit squaddie, US GI or G.I. (Joe), Old-fashioned (WWI) doughboy: Enemy soldiers had been reconnoitring our position during the night. 2 fighter, stalwart, supporter, militant: He has been a soldier in the fight against poverty all his life. --v. 3 serve (in the army): In his family the men have been soldiering for generations. 4 soldier on. continue, persist, persevere, endure, drive, keep going, keep on or at, grind, drudge: Despite the set-backs, they soldiered on to complete the project in time. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 112 Moby Thesaurus words for "soldier": Amazon, GI, Tommy Atkins, aggressive, air serviceman, ant, army ant, bear arms, black ant, bold, brave, cannon fodder, carpenter ant, carry arms, clock watcher, combative, condottiere, continue, courageous, dauntless, do active duty, do duty, dodge, dog it, dogface, doughboy, doughfoot, drive, drudge, duck, duck duty, emmet, endure, enlisted man, eye-servant, fearless, fighter, fighting man, fire ant, food for powder, free lance, get out of, goldbrick, goldbricker, goof off, grind, guerrilla, halberdier, hoplite, house ant, infantryman, intrepid, keep at, keep going, keep on, legionary, malinger, malingerer, man-at-arms, martial, mercenary, militant, military man, navy man, not pull fair, old soldier, partisan, persevere, persist, pikeman, pismire, pugnacious, queen, recruit, red ant, rifle, rifleman, serve, serviceman, shirk, shirker, shoulder a gun, shoulder arms, skulk, skulker, slack, slacker, slave ant, slide out of, slip out of, sneak out of, soldier of fortune, soldierly, spearman, stalwart, supporter, swaddy, sweat, tax dodger, termite, trooper, truant, unafraid, valiant, valorous, warlike, warrior, warrioress, wear the uniform, welsh, welsher, worker |
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