different between soldier vs soldierless

English

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: s?l?j?(r), s?l?j?(r), IPA^(key): /?s??ld???/, /?s?ld???/
• (General American) enPR: s?l?j?r, IPA^(key): /?so?ld???/
• Rhymes: -??ld???(?), -?ld???(?)

Noun

soldier (plural soldiers)

1. A member of an army, of any rank.
   • I am a soldier and unapt to weep.

   • 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.

   • 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. A low-ranking member of the mafia who engages in physical conflict.
6. (Britain, Australia, New Zealand) A piece of buttered bread (or toast), cut into a long thin strip for dipping into a soft-boiled egg.
7. A term of approbation for a young boy.
8. Someone who fights or toils well.
9. The red or cuckoo gurnard (Chelidonichthys cuculus).
10. 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.
11. (slang, dated) A red herring (cured kipper with flesh turned red).

Synonyms

• (member of an army): grunt, sweat, old sweat, Tommy

Derived terms

• dead soldier
• soldierlike, soldierly
• water soldier (Stratiotes aloides)

Translations

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.

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

• (work at slowest rate): dog it, goldbrick

Derived terms

• soldierly

Translations

See also

• soldier on
• toy soldier, plastic soldier
• soldier ant, soldier bee
• soldier of fortune
• construction soldier

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

English

Etymology

soldier +? -less

Adjective

soldierless (not comparable)

1. Without soldiers.
2. (zoology) Without soldier ants.
   • 2006, Helmut König, Ajit Varma, Intestinal microorganisms of termites and other invertebrates

     ...some of the more highly evolved cryptic termites are soldierless.