volunteer

Meanings

Noun

• One who enters into, or offers for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay.
• One who enters into military service voluntarily, but who, when in service, is subject to discipline and regulations like other soldiers; -- opposed to conscript; specifically, a voluntary member of the organized militia of a country as distinguished from the standing army.
• A person who acts out of their own will without a legal obligation, such as a donor.
• A plant that grows spontaneously, without being cultivated on purpose; see volunteer plant in Wikipedia.
• A native or resident of the American state of Tennessee.

Verb

• To enlist oneself as a volunteer.
• To do or offer to do something voluntarily.
• To offer, usually unprompted.
• To grow without human sowing or intentional cultivation.
• To offer the services of (someone else) to do something.

Origin

• Borrowed from Middle French voluntaire, from Latin voluntārius; or from voluntary + -eer.