- Soldier
- 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.
[1913 Webster]
I am a soldier and unapt to weep. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
2. Especially, a private in military service, as distinguished from an officer. [1913 Webster]
It were meet that any one, before he came to be a captain, should have been a soldier. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
4. (Zo["o]l.) The red or cuckoo gurnard ({Trigla pini}.) [Prov. Eng.] [1913 Webster]
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}. [1913 Webster]
{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}). [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
