Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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.

            I am a soldier and unapt to weep.     --Shak.

   2. Especially, 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.  --Spenser.

   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.

   4. (Zo["o]l.) The red or cuckoo gurnard ({Trigla pini}.)
      [Prov. Eng.]

   5. (Zo["o]l.) 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}.

   {Soldier beetle} (Zo["o]l.), an American carabid beetle
      ({Chauliognathus Americanus}) whose larva feeds upon other
      insects, such as the plum curculio.

   {Soldier bug} (Zo["o]l.), 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} (Zo["o]l.)
      (a) The hermit crab.
      (b) The fiddler crab.

   {Soldier fish} (Zo["o]l.), a bright-colored etheostomoid fish
      ({Etheostoma c[oe]ruleum}) found in the Mississippi River;
      -- called also {blue darter}, and {rainbow darter}.

   {Soldier fly} (Zo["o]l.), 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} (Zo["o]l.), 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}).