— soldiership , n.
/sohl"jeuhr/ , n.
1. a person who serves in an army; a person engaged in military service.
2. an enlisted man or woman, as distinguished from a commissioned officer: the soldiers' mess and the officers' mess.
3. a person of military skill or experience: George Washington was a great soldier.
4. a person who contends or serves in any cause: a soldier of the Lord.
5. Also called button man . Slang. a low-ranking member of a crime organization or syndicate.
6. Entomol. a member of a caste of sexually underdeveloped female ants or termites specialized, as with powerful jaws, to defend the colony from invaders.
7. a brick laid vertically with the narrower long face out. Cf. rowlock (def. 2).
8. Informal. a person who avoids work or pretends to work; loafer; malingerer.
v.i.
9. to act or serve as a soldier.
10. Informal. to loaf while pretending to work; malinger: He was soldiering on the job.
11. soldier on , to persist steadfastly in one's work; persevere: to soldier on until the work is done.
[ 1250-1300; ME souldiour soudier, so ( l ) dier, equiv. to soulde pay ( solidus; see SOL 2 ) + -ier -IER 2 ]