Mercenary

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Mercenary \Mer"ce*na*ry\, n.; pl. {Mercenaries}.
     One who is hired; a hireling; especially, a soldier hired
     into foreign service. --Milman.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:



  Mercenary \Mer"ce*na*ry\, a. [OE. mercenarie, F. mercenaire, fr.
     L. mercenarius, fr. merces wages, reward. See {Mercy}.]
     1. Acting for reward; serving for pay; paid; hired; hireling;
        venal; as, mercenary soldiers.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Hence: Moved primarily by considerations of pay or profit;
        greedy of gain; sordid; selfish. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              For God forbid I should my papers blot
              With mercenary lines, with servile pen. --Daniel.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: See {Venal}.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  mercenary
       adj 1: marked by materialism [syn: {materialistic}, {worldly-minded}]
       2: used of soldiers hired by a foreign army [syn: {mercenary(a)},
           {freelance(a)}]
       3: profit oriented; "a commercial book"; "preached a mercantile
          and militant patriotism"- John Buchan; "a mercenary
          enterprise"; "a moneymaking business" [syn: {mercantile},
          {moneymaking(a)}]
       n : a person hired to fight for another country than their own
           [syn: {soldier of fortune}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  85 Moby Thesaurus words for "mercenary":
     a hog for, acquisitive, adventurer, all-devouring, assistant,
     avaricious, avid, bottomless, bought, bribable, chartered,
     condottiere, corrupt, corruptible, coveting, covetous, devouring,
     drudge, employed, employee, esurient, free lance, girl Friday,
     gluttonous, gobbling, grabby, grasping, greedy, grub, grubber, gun,
     gunman, hack, hired, hired gun, hired hand, hired killer,
     hired man, hireling, hoggish, insatiable, insatiate, leased, let,
     limitless, man Friday, miserly, money-hungry, money-mad, myrmidon,
     omnivorous, on the take, overgreedy, paid, pensioner, piggish,
     predatory, professional killer, purchasable, quenchless, rapacious,
     ravening, ravenous, rented, right-hand man, slakeless, slavey,
     soldier of fortune, sordid, subleased, sublet, swinish,
     unappeasable, unappeased, unethical, unprincipled, unquenchable,
     unsated, unsatisfied, unscrupulous, unslakeable, unslaked, venal,
     voracious, worker