2. To make a pretense of doing something, or of performing
any task. [Colloq.U.S.]
Note: In this sense the vulgar pronounciation (s[=o]"j[~e]r)
is jocosely preserved.
It needs an opera glass to discover whether the
leaders are pulling, or only soldiering. --C. D.
Warner.
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}).