soldier

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See also: Soldier

English

Soldiers.

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English soudeour, from Old French soudier or soudeour (“mercenary”), from Medieval Latin soldarius (“soldier (one having pay)”), from Late Latin solidus, a type of coin. Displaced Old English cempa (English kemp) from Latin campus.

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: sōlʹjə(r), sŏlʹjə(r), IPA(key): /ˈsəʊld͡ʒə/, /ˈsɒld͡ʒə/
    • Audio (UK):(file)
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GenAm" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: sōlʹjər, IPA(key): /ˈsoʊld͡ʒɚ/
  • Rhymes: -əʊldʒə(ɹ), -ɒldʒə(ɹ)

Noun

soldier (plural soldiers)

  1. A member of a ground-based army, of any rank.
  2. (by extension, nonstandard) Any member of a military, regardless of specialty.
  3. An enlisted member of a military service, as distinguished from a commissioned officer.
    • 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:
      It were meet that any one, before he came to be a captain, should have been a soldier.
  4. A guardsman.
  5. A member of the Salvation Army.
  6. A low-ranking member of the mafia who engages in physical conflict.
  7. (British, Australia, New Zealand) A piece of buttered bread (or toast), cut into a long thin strip for dipping into a soft-boiled egg.
    • 2008, Nicholas Drayson, A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, page 180:
      Beside his egg was a plate of buttered toast, already cut up into soldiers.
  8. A term of approbation for a young boy.
  9. Someone who fights or toils well.
  10. The red or cuckoo gurnard (Lua error in Module:parameters at line 828: Parameter "ver" is not used by this template.).
  11. One of the asexual polymorphic forms of termites, in which the head and jaws are very large and strong. The soldiers serve to defend the nest.
  12. (slang, dated) A red herring (cured kipper with flesh turned red).

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

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Translations to be checked

Verb

soldier (third-person singular simple present soldiers, present participle soldiering, simple past and past participle soldiered)

  1. (intransitive) To continue steadfast; to keep striving.
  2. (intransitive) To serve as a soldier.
  3. (intransitive) To intentionally restrict labor productivity; to work at the slowest rate that goes unpunished.
  4. (transitive, slang) To take a ride on (another person's horse) without permission.
    • 1917, Cuthbert Fetherstonhaugh, After many days: being the reminiscences of Cuthbert Fetherstonhaugh:
      It was the first time I had ever “soldiered” a horse. Soldiering means using a horse without the owner's leave or knowledge. Two of our lost horses we never found. Probably some one was soldiering them!

Usage notes

Originally from the way that conscripts may approach following orders. Usage less prevalent in the era of all-volunteer militaries.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Further reading

Anagrams

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