sol·dier / ˈsōljər/ • n. 1. a person who serves in an army. ∎  (also common soldier or private soldier) a private in an army.2. Entomol. a wingless caste of ant or termite with a large specially modified head and jaws, involved chiefly in defense.• v. [intr.] serve as a soldier: [as n.] (soldiering) soldiering was what the colonel understood. ∎  (soldier on) inf. carry on doggedly; persevere: Gary wasn't enjoying this, but he soldiered on. ∎ inf. work more slowly than one's capacity; loaf or malinger: is it the reason you've been soldiering on the job? DERIVATIVES: sol·dier·ly adj.sol·dier·ship / -ˌship/ n. ( archaic ).

Soldier ★★ 1998 (R)

Steals trite scenes from other post-apolyptic sci-fi shoot-'em-ups just to prove that 47-yearold Kurt Russell had been working out. Genetically engineered soldier Russell is discarded as obsolete on a garbage dump planet inhabited by a freedom-loving survivalist (Pertwee) and his band of human flotsam. When a force led by next-generation soldier Jason Scott Lee invades the planet, Russell helps save the skankylooking group of squatters. Robbed of his Snake Plissken smirk, Russell delivers a hollow character who is hard to like. The garbage planet set recycles props used in “Demolition Man,” “Executive Decision,” and “Event Horizon.” The movie recycles ideas from every other sci-fi flick. 99m/C VHS, DVD . Kurt Russell, Jason Scott Lee, Gary Busey, Michael Chiklis, Sean Pertwee, Jason Isaacs, Connie Nielsen, Brenda Wehle, Mark Bringleson, K.K. Dodds; D: Paul W.S. Anderson; W: David Peoples; C: David Tattersall; M: Joel McNeely.

soldier soldier of fortune a person who works as a soldier for any country or group that will pay them; a mercenary; the term is first recorded in 1661.
what the soldier said isn't evidence proverbial saying, mid 19th century, meaning that hearsay evidence alone cannot be relied on, originally as a reference to Charles Dickens's Pickwick Papers, when the judge admonishes Sam Weller, ‘You must not tell us what the soldier, or any other man, said…it's not evidence.’

See also the first duty of a soldier, old soldiers never die, Unknown Soldier at unknown.

soldierXIII (sauder, souder, souldeour, etc.). — OF. soud(i)er, saudier, so(l)dier, f. sou(l)de pay :- L. solidus gold coin of imperial times, sb. use of solidus SOLID; see -IER2
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soldier A sterile member, specialized for defence, of an ant or termite colony. The head is usually enlarged, and it or the tip of the abdomen may be used to block entrance holes to the nest (phragmosis).