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. zool. the red or cuckoo gurnard trigla pini. prov.
      eng.
      1913 webster

   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.
      1913 webster

   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.
      1913 webster
see also:
solid sold trigla pini termite soldier beetle chauliognathus americanus 
soldier bug podisus podius spinosus soldier crab soldier fish 
etheostoma coeruleum blue darter rainbow darter soldier fly stratyomys 
soldier moth euschema militaris soldier orchis orchis militaris