soldier Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an enlisted man or woman who serves in an army
    • the soldiers stood at attention
  2. noun a wingless sterile ant or termite having a large head and powerful jaws adapted for defending the colony
  3. verb serve as a soldier in the military

WordNet

Sol"dier noun
Etymology
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.
Definitions
  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. (Zoöl.) The red or cuckoo gurnard (Trigla pini.) Prov. Eng.
  5. (Zoöl.) 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.
Sol"dier intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To serve as a soldier.
  2. To make a pretense of doing something, or of performing any task. Colloq.U.S. ✍ In this sense the vulgar pronounciation is jocosely preserved.
    It needs an opera glass to discover whether the leaders are pulling, or only soldiering. C. D. Warner.

Webster 1913