soldier

Alternative forms

• soldior, soldiour, souldier, souldior, souldiour (all obsolete)

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: sōlʹjə(r), sŏlʹjə(r), IPA^(key): /ˈsəʊld͡ʒə/, /ˈsɒld͡ʒə/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) enPR: sōlʹjər, IPA^(key): /ˈsoʊld͡ʒɚ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊld͡ʒə(ɹ), -ɒld͡ʒə(ɹ)

Noun

soldier (plural soldiers)

1. A member of an army, of any rank.
   • 1577, Raphaell Holinshed [i.e., Raphael Holinshed]; Richard Stanihurst, “[The Historie of Irelande.] The Thirde Booke of the Historie of Ireland, Comprising the Raigne of Henry the Eyght: [...].”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande. Conteyning, The Description and Chronicles of England, from the First Inhabiting unto the Conquest. The Description and Chronicles of Scotland, from the First Originall of the Scottes Nation, till the Yeare of Our Lorde. 1571. The Description and Chronicles of Yrelande, likewise from the First Originall of that Nation, untill the Yeare. 1547. Faithfully Gathered and Set Forth, volume I, London: Imprinted [by Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, OCLC 55195564, pages 77–78, column 2:

     The Citizens in their rage, imagining that euery poſt in the Churche had bin one of ye Souldyers, ſhot habbe or nabbe at randon^{[sic, meaning random]} uppe to the Roode lofte, and to the Chancell, leauing ſome of theyr arrowes ſticking in the Images.

   • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

     I am a soldier and unapt to weep.

   • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:

     Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.

   • 2012, August 1. Owen Gibson in Guardian Unlimited, London 2012: rowers Glover and Stanning win Team GB's first gold medal

     Stanning, who was commissioned from Sandhurst in 2008 and has served in Aghanistan, is not the first soldier to bail out the organisers at these Games but will be among the most celebrated.

2. A private in military service, as distinguished from an officer.
   • Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599)

     It were meet that any one, before he came to be a captain, should have been a soldier.

3. A guardsman.
4. A member of the Salvation Army.
5. (Britain, New Zealand) A piece of buttered bread (or toast), cut into a long thin strip for dipping into a soft-boiled egg.
6. A term of affection for a young boy.
7. Someone who fights or toils well.
8. The red or cuckoo gurnard (Chelidonichthys cuculus).
9. 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.

Verb

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

1. To continue.
2. To be a soldier.
3. To intentionally restrict labor productivity; to work at the slowest rate that goes unpunished.

Further reading

• soldier on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Soldier (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• soldier on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• soldier on Wikiquote.Wikiquote

Anagrams

• Delrios, serolid, solider