Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A person who has served in the armed forces.
  • noun An old soldier who has seen long service.
  • noun A person who is long experienced or practiced in an activity or capacity.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Same as veteranize.
  • Grown old in service.
  • Hence— Practised and skilful.
  • Entitled to consideration and allowance on account of long service.
  • In milit. matters, practised and accustomed to war, as distinguished from raw, newly enlisted, etc.
  • Long-continued; of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a veteran or veterans.
  • noun One long practised, and therefore skilled and trustworthy, or entitled to consideration on account of past services; especially (military), a veteran soldier. See I., 2 .

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Long exercised in anything, especially in military life and the duties of a soldier; long practiced or experienced
  • noun One who has been long exercised in any service or art, particularly in war; one who has had much experience, or has grown old or decrepit in service.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A person with long experience of a particular activity.
  • noun A person who has served in the armed forces, especially an old soldier who has seen long service.
  • adjective Having had long experience, practice, or service.
  • adjective Of or relating to former members of the military armed forces, especially those who served during wartime.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person who has served in the armed forces
  • adjective rendered competent through trial and experience
  • noun an experienced person who has been through many battles; someone who has given long service
  • noun a serviceman who has seen considerable active service

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin veterānus, from vetus, veter-, old; see wet- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin veterānus.

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