| 释义 |
▪ I. volunteer, n. and a.|vɒlənˈtɪə(r)|
Forms: α. 7 volunteir(e, 7–8 voluntier, 8 volontier. β. 7– volunteer (7 -eere), 7–8 volenteer.
[ad. F. volontaire, † voluntaire (= It. volont-, voluntario, Sp. and Pg. voluntario), ad. L. voluntārius voluntary a. The ending has been assimilated to the suffixes -ier and -eer1.]
A. n.
1. Mil.
a. One who voluntarily offers or enrols himself for military service, in contrast to those who are under obligation to do so, or who form part of a regular army or military force.
In early use freq. implying service without the pay given to the regular troops.
αa1618Raleigh Mahomet (1637) 80, 6000 horse and voluntiers infinite accomodated with all provisions. 1654H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 68 The enemy being about one thousand Horse and Foot besides Voluntiers, made a very gallant impression upon us. 1654–66Earl of Orrery Parthen. (1676) 25 The Prince honor'd me with the leading of 2000 Horse, all Voluntiers. a1715Burnet Own Time ix. (1766) I. 306 The earl of Montague..was then a voluntier and one of the Duke's Court. 1769Robertson Chas. V, viii. Wks. 1813 III. 85 To every standard that was erected, voluntiers flocked from all quarters.
βc1600Drayton Miseries Q. Margaret clxxvi, And with fiue thousand valient Volunteers, Of natiue French, put vnder her Command, With Armes well fitted she towards Scotland steeres. 1627Lisander & Cal. i. 14 With a hand⁓full of Volenteers he defeated manie thousands of Reisters. 1653H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. lxiv. (1663) 261 He resolved by the means of ten thousand Volunteers, who had offered themselves unto him,..to attacque this fort. 1677W. Hubbard Narrative 18 A Company of Volunteers, under the Command of Captain Samuel Moseley. 1747Gentl. Mag. 321 Certain burgesses and inhabitants of the city, offering to serve as volunteers in defence of the city, against the rebels. 1788Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) I. 599/2 All this time the American army was increasing by the continual arrival of militia and volunteers from all parts. 1841Catlin N. Amer. Ind. lviii. (1844) II. 242 He is then a volunteer, like all of their soldiers in war, and bound by no compulsive power. 1870J. Bruce Gideon xxii. 399 These discouraged Israelites who had deserted were here seen returning and flocking as volunteers now, round the triumphant standard of that mighty man of valour.
b. spec. A member of an organized military company or force, formed by voluntary enrolment and distinct from the the regular army. In later use, a civilian forming part of the ‘auxiliary forces’ of a country as a member of such a body.
1642Exceeding Welcome Newes fr. Beverley (title-p.), The Resolution of the Gentry and Commonalty of Yorkshire to joyn with the London Voluntiers, for the defence of the King and Parliament. 1643in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. IV. 435 To warne the watch of the voluntiers of the said Town whoe did dutie of watch twice 24 howres every weeke. 1712E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 74 The Volunteers march'd before the Army, daring the Enemy in a very haughty Manner. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVIII. 689/2 Making their object known to government, they were, in 1794, embodied in a regiment, called The Royal Edinburgh Volunteers. 1801Farmer's Mag. Nov. 418 At his house we met with the poet-laureat of the Inverness volunteers. 1818Mrs. E. H. Iliff Poems Sev. Occas. (ed. 2) 23 Our tars shall keep the sea—our coast Be guarded by our volunteers. 1860Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 115 Every other man..I know..is a volunteer though. 1888Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 295/2 The personal equipment of the volunteers,..as a rule, is deficient for field service.
†c. In the phrase to go (also serve) a volunteer.
1650R. Stapylton Strada's Low C. Wars i. 24 Octavio Forneze..served a Volunteer against the French. 1685Crowne Sir C. Nice i, They will go voluntiers into a battle, but must be prest to marriage. 1718Prior Poems Sev. Occas. Ded., In the first Dutch War He went a Voluntier under the Duke of York. 1760Cautions & Adv. Officers Army 23 Whilst Suspicions only are against him, there is a possibility of wiping them out, and that is by desiring to go a Voluntier with the Grenadiers the first desperate Attack they are ordered on. 1770Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 215/2 He endeavoured to prevent the young men who offered to go volunteers from giving in their names. 1870L'Estrange Miss Mitford I. i. 2 He had the resolution to part from what he loved, and to go a volunteer into the army.
†d. One voluntarily serving in the Navy. Obs.
1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 18 What Discouragement gives not this to right-bred Tars from entering Volunteers. 1708Lond. Gaz. No. 4440/1 The Trumpeters, Quarter-Gunners,..Volunteers by Letter, and Marine-Soldiers. a1720Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. ii. 122 King Charles II. then in exile, asked the Dutch to be received in their navy as a volunteer.
2. fig. (With direct allusion to sense 1.)
a. Of things.
1636Quarles Elegie Wks. (Grosart) III. 11/2 But stay! what need, what need we presse a teare, When every eye becomes a Volunteire? 1650Fuller Pisgah iii. i. 359 More probable it is, that Hirams fancy..was not pressed in all particulars, but was left a volunteire for some descants of Art. 1715J. Chappelow Right Way to be Rich (1717) 167 There are abundance of full texts..which offer themselves as voluntiers in this service. 1733Pope Ess. Man iii. 88 Reason..Cares not for service, or but serves when prest,..But honest Instinct comes a volunteer. 1733Duchess of Queensberry Let. to Swift 3 Nov., I..have not time to think of answering your letters. This is only a volunteer.
b. Of persons.
1650Baxter Saints' R. iii. ii. 295 They wilfully and obstinately persisted in their Rebellion, and were meer Voluntiers in the service of the Devil. 1667Decay Chr. Piety v. ⁋25 They have generally gone higher, exhorted men to become voluntiers in vertues warfare. 1671Shadwell Humourists iv, If it be the Devil, Mr. Parson, we'll turn you loose to him; you take pay to fight against him, we are but voluntiers. 1755Young Centaur ii. Wks. 1757 IV. 150 The clergy are voluntiers; the aged are pressed by nature into the service of wisdom.
3. One who voluntarily offers his services in any capacity; one who of his own free will takes part in any enterprise.
α1638Penit. Conf. xi. (1657) 301 He comes in as a voluntier upon his own confession. 1648Gage West Ind. i. 3 Yearly are sent thither Missions..either of Voluntiers, Fryers Mendicants, Priests or Monkes, or else of forced Jesuites. 1677Auth. Life in Cleveland's Gen. Poems A 6 b, Perceiving the Ostracism that was intended, he became a Voluntier in his Academick Exile. 1688Penn in Life Wks. 1782 I. 112 Voluntiers are Blanks and Cyphers in all Governments. 1755Connoisseur No. 70 ⁋19, I do not know the names of any of the Voluntiers, to whom I have been greatly indebted. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. 257 Such unauthorized voluntiers in violence are not ranked among open enemies.
β1655Fuller Hist. Cambr. 104 More probably he was a Volunteer in his Lecture, having no Salary for the reading thereof. 1712Steele Spect. No. 526 ⁋2 Our Hackney-Coachmen..do still ply as Volunteers Day and Night for the Good of their Country. 1768Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 415 There is a multitude of labourers in the vineyard, as well volunteers in dissertations and essays, as retained servants entered upon the steward's roll. 1794Southey Botany Bay Eclogues ii, Anon the morning came, And off I set a volunteer for fame. 1820Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 50 Another party, likewise consisting of seven volunteers, were landed in Jan Mayen Island. 1833Tracts for Times No. 17. 3 Are they duly authorised and commissioned from the Court; are they come as volunteers, or have they been sent by their master? 1873Mozley Univ. Serm. (1876) 168 The peculiar nature of the agency concerned in the Act..is..a guarantee to the willingness of the victim..as being that of a volunteer from the first.
4. A flower or tree which grows spontaneously, (cf. B. 2 b); a self-sown plant.
1657Thornley tr. Longus' Daphnis & Chloe 172 Flowers,—some the Earth's own Voluntiers, some the structure of the Artist's hand. 1960Jrnl. Forestry LVIII. 402/3 The stand was planted on a 6 × 6-foot spacing, with some interspersed volunteers. 1978New Yorker 3 July 42/1 Around the buildings..are some of the tallest volunteers in New York, top-heavy plants.
†5.
a. A deliberate lie.
b. A voluntary gift.
1678Dryden Kind Keeper iii. i, Now will he lie three or four rapping Voluntiers, rather than be thought ignorant in any thing. 1757E. Griffith Lett. Henry & Frances (1767) I. 154, I think myself vastly obliged to dear Harry for his obliging voluntier.
6. Law. One to whom a voluntary conveyance is made; one who benefits by a deed made without valuable consideration.
1744Jacob Law Dict. (ed. 5) s.v. Voluntary, Remainders limited in Settlements, to a Man's right Heirs, etc. are deemed Voluntary in Equity, and the Persons claiming under them are called Volunteers. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 135 There seemed no reason..why these general incidents..should be saved in favour of a devisee, or other volunteer, and not in favour of a wife. Ibid. IV. 276 Equity will relieve, even in favour of a volunteer.
B. attrib. or as adj.
1. a. Of troops, etc.: Consisting or composed of persons undertaking military service as volunteers.
1662Extr. St. Papers rel. Friends (1911) ii. 158 A Company of 100 Volonteere Horse which I drew together. 1662Dk. Buckhm. in Slingsby's Diary (1836) 363, I have sent orders..to get the volontier troopes in as great a readinesse as they can. 1798T. Hinderwell Hist. Scarborough 236 A Volunteer Corps of one hundred and eighty, raised in the town. Ibid., Five Companies of Volunteer Infantry. 1811Regul. & Orders Army 5 Officers of Yeomanry Cavalry and Volunteer Corps rank as juniors of their respective Ranks. 1822Act 3 Geo. IV, c. 126 §32 No Toll shall be demanded..for any Carriage conveying Volunteer Infantry. 1852Sir C. Napier Def. Eng. 13 With regard to your volunteer corps, I think each should consist of from one to four companies. 1886C. E. Pascoe London of To-day xviii. (ed. 3) 169 The military spirit of the ‘Volunteer’ corps of London.
b. Of persons: Voluntarily performing military service; serving as a volunteer in the army († or navy). Also in predicative use (b).
(a)1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, ccxcix, They dance and rore The expectation of a Muster; where they 'nroule themselues, Gentlemen volunteire. 1653Urquhart Rabelais i. xlvii, Nine thousand dragoons and a hundred and fourty thousand voluntier adventurers. 1698Froger (title), A Relation of a Voyage made..by the Sieur Froger, Voluntier-Engineer on board the English Falcon. 1710–11Swift Lett. (1767) III. 127, I doubt the scoundrel was broke, and got a commission, or perhaps is a voluntier gentleman. 1782V. Knox Ess. cxxxi. (1819) III. 64 Compare the limbs of the volunteer soldiers in the metropolis with those of the rustic militia, or regulars.
(b)1722De Foe Col. Jack xiv, I was not only insensibly drawn in, but was perfectly volunteer in that dull cause. 1724― Gt. Law Subordination 145 You will blame the gentleman, perhaps, for engaging thus voluntier with his servant. 1728― Compl. Eng. Gent. (1890) 14 The modern Lord was a Man of Spirit, had serv'd Voluntier under the Fountain of Glory Gustavus Adolphus. 1744M. Bishop Life & Adv. 57 There is a wide Difference between being press'd and going Voluntier.
c. Of or pertaining to a volunteer or volunteers.
1724De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 136 Indeed it will be a volunteer war, said the king, for the northern gentry have sent me an account of above four thousand horse they have already. 1779Sheridan Critic i. i, If you had the least spirit you would have been..trailing a volunteer pike in the Artillery ground. 1837Alison Hist. Europe (1847) VI. 118 This was the Volunteer system and the general arming of the people.
d. Volunteer State, a nickname for Tennessee (see quot. 1950).
1853J. C. M. Ramsey Ann. Tennessee 116 Thus early did the ‘Volunteer State’ commence its novitiate in arms. 1950Newsweek 20 Mar. 96/2 A call for 2,800 volunteers [in the Mexican War of 1847] in Tennessee brought out 30,000 men and gave Tennessee its nickname, ‘The Volunteer State’. 1973Guardian 14 June 13/2 There was a spectacular..murder deep in the hills of Tennessee..as could only happen in the deepest by-ways of the Volunteer State.
2. a. Voluntarily performing any action or service; undertaking a service of one's own free will.
The predicative use (quot. 1727) is freq. in De Foe's works.
1661Boyle Style of Script. 195 He is such a Volunteer Sinner, that he hath neither the Wit nor the Excuse of declining his Conscience in Complement to his Senses. 1727De Foe Hist. Apparit. Introd. 7 It was a most incongruous Suggestion that the devil should come Voluntier to an Atheist. 1759Dilworth Pope 71 It was natural for them to be the volunteer-heralds of that translation's merit they had some share in bringing to perfection. 1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 179 Probably a volunteer artist. 1812H. & J. Smith Horace in Lond. 125 How many a volunteer muse..Has met with her death in reviews. 1858J. Martineau Stud. Chr. 249 James and John and Peter, who never heartily recognized the Volunteer Apostle.
transf.1713Steele Englishm. No. 55. 353 There were many hundreds of Volunteer Links brought into this Protestant Illumination.
b. Of vegetation: Growing spontaneously.
1794Vancouver Agric. Cambridge 44 A remarkably fine growth of volunteer ash, has lately been cut down. 1882Contemp. Rev. Aug. 233 They had the year before last 80 acres of volunteer or self-sown oats. 1883Century Mag. Oct. 804/1 Crops are raised sometimes for twenty successive years, on the same fields, without the soils showing exhaustion, and what are called volunteer crops.
3. Of services, actions, etc.: Rendered or performed voluntarily.
1724De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 55 The king desires no man's service but what is purely volunteer. 1779Burke Corr. (1844) II. 284, I am not very fond of any volunteer modes of raising money for public service. 1794Mathias Purs. Lit. (1798) 252 Mr. Reeves will deter any man from volunteer effusions in favour of any Minister. 1873Mozley Univ. Serm. viii. (1876) 167 It cannot be said that it is..contrary to justice to accept a volunteer offer of suffering.
▪ II. volunˈteer, v.
[Back-formation from volunteering vbl. n.]
1. a. intr. To undertake military service voluntarily, esp. on a special occasion. Freq. const. for.
1755Johnson, To volunteer, to go for a soldier. 1802James Milit. Dict. s.v., In some instances soldiers volunteer for a limited period, and within certain boundaries. 1849E. B. Eastwick Dry Leaves 163 The Bengáli sipáhis..being asked, ‘Do you volunteer?’ replied, ‘Yes, Saheb, we volunteer, but we don't go willingly’. 1859Thackeray Virgin. lxii, Sir John had volunteered for the expedition which is preparing. 1874Stubbs Const. Hist. I. ii. 15 They volunteered and were bound by honour to their leaders.
b. Const. to with inf. (esp. to serve).
1802James Milit. Dict. s.v., The drafts from the militia in 1798, who volunteered to serve in Europe only. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 301 John Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave,..volunteered to serve at sea against the Dutch.
c. Const. into (a particular regiment).
1841E. Costello Adv. Soldier i, At Londonderry..I volunteered into the 95th, since made the ‘Rifle Brigade’.
2. a. To offer of one's own accord to do something.
1840Hood Up Rhine 192 Our old acquaintance volunteering to be our guide, we made the round of the sights of the town. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. xi. 292 My guide volunteered to cut the steps for me up to the pickets. 1881Froude Short Stud. (1883) IV. ii. ii. 180 No dean or tutor ever volunteered to help our inexperience.
b. To be thrown from a horse without sufficient cause. (Cf. voluntary n. 7.)
1890Field 8 Feb. 177 There is scarcely a horseman of experience who will not confess to have been at some time or other taken unawares, and to have ‘volunteered’ in consequence.
3. a. trans. To offer (one's services) for some special purpose or enterprise.
1800Med. Jrnl. IV. 127 When I first volunteered my services on this important subject. 1820Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 49 Seven men volunteered their services. 1857Dickens Dorrit i. vi, Mrs. Bangham..had volunteered her services as..general attendant.
b. With vbl. n. as object, or refl.
1806Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) II. iii. 94 One of the kindest was Lord Somerville, who volunteered introducing me to Lord Spencer. 1825T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Passion & Princ. xii. III. 270 He..gravely volunteered himself as silk-holder, while Miss Harriet..wound off, I know not how many skeins.
4. To offer to undertake or perform (something).
1818Scott Hrt. Midl. vi, Mr. Lindsay..volunteered the perilous task of carrying a verbal message. 1863Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. x. 271 One of the soldiers volunteers the office of interpreter. 1876C. M. Yonge Womankind vi, I had rather make Latin the schoolroom lesson, and leave German to be volunteered afterwards.
5. To communicate (information, etc.) on one's own initiative.
1805Jane Austen Let. 27 Aug. (1952) 166 She volunteers, moreover, her love to little Marianne, with the promise of bringing her a doll. 1813― Let. 14 Oct. (1952) 354, I talk to Cassy about Chawton; she remembers much but does not volunteer on the subject. 1839Dickens Nich. Nick. vii, He had grown thoughtful and appeared in nowise disposed to volunteer any observation. 1841Mrs. Mozley Lost Brooch II. xiii. 99 This was what I call forward in a servant, to volunteer explanations. 1860W. Collins Wom. White iii. xi. (1861) 411, I did not feel called on to volunteer any statement of my own private convictions. 1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt ii, He volunteered no information about himself and his past life at Smyrna.
ellipt.1893H. Crackanthorpe Wreckage 178 When he started out late at night, he never volunteered where he was going.
6. To offer to give or supply. Also fig.
1814Jane Austen Mansf. Park II. ix. 200 Thursday..opened with more kindness to Fanny than such..unmanageable days often volunteer. 1873Tristram Moab i. 6 A delegate of the Ta‘amirah..volunteered a guard of his tribe.
7. With away: To surrender voluntarily.
1807Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 82, I..do not wish to volunteer away that portion of tranquillity, which a firm execution of my duties will permit me to enjoy.
Hence volunˈteered, volunˈteering ppl. adjs.
1797J. Symonds in A. Young's Autobiog. xii. (1898) 304 You justly reprobate volunteering infantry. 1845Times 1 Nov. 4/4 The members of the press retired..from the hall, into which they had been invited by the volunteered cards of admission from the benchers. 1864Meredith Sandra Belloni xiv, In the end they deputed the volunteering Adela to sit with him in the library. 1879Geo. Eliot Theo. Such i. 7 The fellow-feeling which should restrain us from turning our volunteered and picked confessions into an act of accusation against others. 1886Encycl. Brit. XXI. 791 With Godwin Shelley had opened a volunteered correspondence late in 1811. 1903Morley Gladstone II. v. ii. 20 He was not forbidden to proceed upon his volunteered mission.
Add:[3.] c. iron. To assign or commit (another) to a particular undertaking, typically without his or her consent. Freq. in pass.
1959C. Ogburn Marauders (1960) iv. 143 ‘You don't feel like flying any more?’ his commanding officer had inquired. ‘O.K., we'll see if you like walking any better.’ So he had been volunteered to us. 1982Daily Tel. 4 Oct. 8/7 She was ‘volunteered’ to play in the tournament..by Mr William Menick. 1987R. Hill There are no Ghosts in Soviet Union 6 ‘OK, I'll go,’ he said, knowing that if Kedin had volunteered him, he really had no choice anyway. |