A soldier is one who fights as part of an organized land-based armed force; if that force is for hire the person is generally termed a mercenary soldier, or mercenary. The majority of cognates of the word "soldier" that exist in other languages have a meaning that embraces both commissioned and non-commissioned officers in national land forces.
Read more about Soldier: Etymology, Occupational Designations, Other Terms, Career Soldier
Famous quotes containing the word soldier:
“For here the lover and killer are mingled
who had one body and one heart.
And death who had the soldier singled
has done the lover mortal hurt.”
—Keith Douglas (1920–1944)
“We agree fully that the mother and unborn child demand special consideration. But so does the soldier and the man maimed in industry. Industrial conditions that are suitable for a stalwart, young, unmarried woman are certainly not equally suitable to the pregnant woman or the mother of young children. Yet “welfare” laws apply to all women alike. Such blanket legislation is as absurd as fixing industrial conditions for men on a basis of their all being wounded soldiers would be.”
—National Woman’s Party, quoted in Everyone Was Brave. As, ch. 8, by William L. O’Neill (1969)
“Do you know what a soldier is, young man? He’s the chap who makes it possible for civilised folk to despise war.”
—Allan Massie (b. 1938)