I. ˌvä-lən-ˈtir noun
Etymology: obsolete French voluntaire (now volontaire ), from voluntaire, adjective, voluntary, from Old French, from Latin voluntarius
Date: circa 1600
1. : a person who voluntarily undertakes or expresses a willingness to undertake a service: as
a. : one who enters into military service voluntarily
b.
(1) : one who renders a service or takes part in a transaction while having no legal concern or interest
(2) : one who receives a conveyance or transfer of property without giving valuable consideration
2. : a volunteer plant
3. capitalized
[ Volunteers of America ]
: a member of a quasi-military religious and philanthropic organization founded in 1896 by Commander and Mrs. Ballington Booth
II. adjective
Date: 1649
1. : being, consisting of, or engaged in by volunteers
a volunteer army
busy with volunteer activities
2. : growing spontaneously without direct human control or supervision especially from seeds lost from a previous crop
volunteer corn plants
III. verb
Date: circa 1755
intransitive verb
: to offer oneself as a volunteer
volunteer ed to host the meeting
transitive verb
: to offer or bestow voluntarily
volunteer one's services