soldier vs volunteer

soldier

noun
  • A member of a ground-based army, of any rank, but especially an enlisted member. 

  • Any member of a military, regardless of specialty. 

  • A guardsman. 

  • Someone who fights or toils well. 

  • The red or cuckoo gurnard (Chelidonichthys cuculus). 

  • A piece of buttered bread (or toast), cut into a long thin strip for dipping into a soft-boiled egg. 

  • A low-ranking gangster or member of a gang, especially the mafia, who engages in physical conflict. 

  • An enlisted member of a military service, as distinguished from a commissioned officer. 

  • A member of the Salvation Army. 

  • A term of approbation for a young boy. 

  • One of the asexual polymorphic forms of termites, in which the head and jaws are very large and strong. The soldiers serve to defend the nest. 

verb
  • To intentionally restrict labor productivity; to work at the slowest rate that goes unpunished. 

  • To take a ride on (another person's horse) without permission. 

  • To serve as a soldier. 

  • To continue steadfast; to keep striving. 

volunteer

noun
  • A voluntary member of the organized militia of a country, as distinguished from a regular or member of the standing army. 

  • A plant that grows spontaneously, without being cultivated on purpose; see volunteer plant in Wikipedia. 

  • One who enters into military service voluntarily (but who, when in service, is subject to discipline and regulations like other soldiers), as opposed to a conscript. 

  • A native or resident of the American state of Tennessee. 

  • One who enters into, or offers themself for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay. 

  • A person who acts out of their own will without a legal obligation, such as a donor. 

verb
  • To offer, usually unprompted. 

  • To grow without human sowing or intentional cultivation. 

  • To enlist oneself as a volunteer. 

  • To offer the services of (someone else) to do something. 

  • To do or offer to do something voluntarily. 

How often have the words soldier and volunteer occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )