soldier
[sohl-jer]
- a person who serves in an army; a person engaged in military service.
- an enlisted man or woman, as distinguished from a commissioned officer: the soldiers' mess and the officers' mess.
- a person of military skill or experience: George Washington was a great soldier.
- a person who contends or serves in any cause: a soldier of the Lord.
- Also called button man. Slang. a low-ranking member of a crime organization or syndicate.
- Entomology.
- a member of a caste of sexually underdeveloped female ants or termites specialized, as with powerful jaws, to defend the colony from invaders.
- a similar member of a caste of worker bees, specialized to protect the hive.
- a brick laid vertically with the narrower long face out.Compare rowlock(def 2).
- Informal. a person who avoids work or pretends to work; loafer; malingerer.
Show More
- to act or serve as a soldier.
- Informal. to loaf while pretending to work; malinger: He was soldiering on the job.
Show More
- soldier on, to persist steadfastly in one's work; persevere: to soldier on until the work is done.
Show More
Origin of soldier
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
fightermercenaryguerrillaveteranguardofficervolunteermarinepilotparatroopertroopercommandowarriorcadetinfantryrecruitprivategunnerscoutrankExamples from the Web for soldier
Contemporary Examples
A soldier in the service of ideals and aspirations that formed his core.
The story of the soldier returning home to a country he no longer recognizes is a very old one.
In their midst stands a soldier with the Lebanese armed forces in a red beret, sporting an assault rifle and an unblinking stare.
The families had gathered that Sunday to remember Ali Bazzal, a soldier whom the Nusra Front declared they had executed on Dec. 6.
Francis then supposedly told the officer that he was the one giving orders now and ordered a cappuccino for the Swiss soldier.
Is The Pope Unprotected Now That He’s Fired the Head of the Swiss Guards?Barbie Latza Nadeau
December 5, 2014
Historical Examples
"Up the Main Street, and across the drawbridge," said the soldier, goodnaturedly.
"Then you may bid farewell to your bed, soldier," said Hordle John.
The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
But here are three strangers, and one, as I take it, a soldier fresh from service.
The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
I am proud of you, Sidney; you came through it like a soldier.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
There is a Telling of that passing and of that soldier which has to do with the gold that was never found.
The Trail BookMary Austin
soldier
- a person who serves or has served in an army
- Also called: common soldiera noncommissioned member of an army as opposed to a commissioned officer
- a person who works diligently for a cause
- a low-ranking member of the Mafia or other organized crime ring
- zoology
- an individual in a colony of social insects, esp ants, that has powerful jaws adapted for defending the colony, crushing large food particles, etc
- (as modifier)soldier ant
- informal a strip of bread or toast that is dipped into a soft-boiled egg
Show More
- to serve as a soldier
- obsolete, slang to malinger or shirk
Show More
Word Origin
C13: from Old French soudier, from soude (army) pay, from Late Latin solidus a gold coin, from Latin: firm
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for soldier
n.
c.1300, souder, from Old French soudier, soldier "one who serves in the army for pay," from Medieval Latin soldarius "a soldier" (cf. Spanish soldado, Italian soldato and French soldat "soldier," which is borrowed from Italian), literally "one having pay," from Late Latin soldum, extended sense of accusative of Latin solidus, name of a Roman gold coin (see solidus). The -l- has been regular in English since mid-14c., in imitation of Latin. Willie and Joe always say sojer in the Bill Mauldin cartoons, and this seems to mirror 16c.-17c. spellings sojar, soger, sojour.
Show More
v.
"to serve as a soldier," 1640s, from soldier (n.). Related: Soldiered; soldiering. To soldier on "persist doggedly" is attested from 1954.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper