释义 |
vol·un·teer I. \|välən.|ti(ə)r, -iə\ noun (-s) Etymology: obsolete French voluntaire (now volontaire), from voluntaire, adjective, voluntary, from Latin voluntarius — more at voluntary 1. : one who enters into or offers himself for any service of his own free will: as a. : one who enters into military service voluntarily but who is then subject to discipline and regulations like other soldiers — opposed to conscript b. (1) : one who renders a service or takes part in a transaction while having no legal interest, duty, or authority with respect to it : an intruder in a transaction who has no legal concern or interest to advance or to protect (as where one renders a service without any express or implied agreement for compensation or seeks to become the servant of another without his assent or pays the debt of a stranger) (2) : one who receives a conveyance or transfer of property without giving valuable consideration : a gratuitous grantee or transferee : donee 2. : a volunteer plant < oats may persist as a volunteer for several years > 3. usually capitalized : an officer or member of the Volunteers of America organized in 1896 along military lines for evangelistic and philanthropic work II. adjective 1. : of or relating to a volunteer : consisting of volunteers : voluntary < a volunteer fire department > < volunteer advice > < volunteer work > 2. : growing spontaneously without direct human control or supervision < in some areas there is still an adequate volunteer crop of game; in others management is essential > especially : growing without cultivation from seeds lost from a previous crop < a stand of volunteer wheat > III. verb (-ed/-ing/-s) transitive verb : to offer or bestow voluntarily or without solicitation or compulsion < volunteer his services > < volunteer help > < volunteer information > < volunteer a donation > intransitive verb 1. : to enter into or offer oneself for any service of one's own free will without solicitation or compulsion : offer < volunteer in an undertaking > < volunteer for the army > 2. : to grow spontaneously : form a volunteer crop or stand < many clovers perpetuate themselves indefinitely by volunteering > |