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.
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I am a soldier and unapt to weep. --Shak.
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2. Especially, a private in military service, as
distinguished from an officer.
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It were meet that any one, before he came to be a
captain, should have been a soldier. --Spenser.
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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.
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4. (Zool.) The red or cuckoo gurnard ({Trigla pini}.) [Prov.
Eng.]
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5. (Zool.) 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}.
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{Soldier beetle} (Zool.), an American carabid beetle
({Chauliognathus Americanus}) whose larva feeds upon other
insects, such as the plum curculio.
{Soldier bug} (Zool.), 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} (Zool.)
(a) The hermit crab.
(b) The fiddler crab.
{Soldier fish} (Zool.), a bright-colored etheostomoid fish
({Etheostoma coeruleum}) found in the Mississippi River;
-- called also {blue darter}, and {rainbow darter}.
{Soldier fly} (Zool.), 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} (Zool.), 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}).
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