[Back-formation from VOLUNTEERING vbl. sb.]
1. intr. To undertake military service voluntarily, esp. on a special occasion. Freq. const. for.
1755. Johnson, To volunteer, to go for a soldier.
1802. James, Milit. Dict., s.v., In some instances soldiers volunteer for a limited period, and within certain boundaries.
1849. Eastwick, Dry Leaves, 163. The Bengáli sipáhis … being asked, ‘Do you volunteer?’ replied, ‘Yes, Saheb, we volunteer, but we don’t go willingly.’
1859. Thackeray, Virginians, lxii. Sir John had volunteered for the expedition which is preparing.
1874. Stubbs, Const. Hist., I. ii. 15. They volunteered and were bound by honour to their leaders.
b. Const. to with inf. (esp. to serve).
1802. James, Milit. Dict., s.v., The drafts from the militia in 1798, who volunteered to serve in Europe only.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 301. John Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave,… volunteered to serve at sea against the Dutch.
c. Const. into (a particular regiment).
1841. E. Costello, Adv. Soldier, i. At Londonderry … I volunteered into the 95th, since made the ‘Rifle Brigade.’
2. To offer of one’s own accord to do something.
1840. Hood, Up Rhine, 192. Our old acquaintance volunteering to be our guide, we made the round of the sights of the town.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., II. xi. 292. My guide volunteered to cut the steps for me up to the pickets.
1881. Froude, 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 sb. 7.)
1890. Field, 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. trans. To offer (one’s services) for some special parpose or enterprise.
1800. Med. Jrnl., IV. 127. When I first volunteered my services on this important subject.
1820. Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., II. 49. Seven men volunteered their services.
1857. Dickens, Dorrit, I. vi. Mrs. Bangham … had volunteered her services as … general attendant.
b. With vbl. sb. as object, or refl.
1806. Scott, Lett., in Lockhart (1837), II. iii. 94. One of the kindest was Lord Somerville, who volunteered introducing me to Lord Spencer.
1825. T. 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).
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., vi. Mr. Lindsay … volunteered the perilous task of carrying a verbal message.
1863. Cowden Clarke, Shaks. Char., x. 271. One of the soldiers volunteers the office of interpreter.
1876. Miss 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.
1839. Dickens, Nickleby, vii. He had grown thoughtful and appeared in nowise disposed to volunteer any observation.
1841. Mrs. Mozley, Lost Brooch, II. xiii. 99. This was what I call forward in a servant, to volunteer explanations.
1860. W. Collins, Wom. White, III. xi. (1861), 411. I did not feel called on to volunteer any statement of my own private convictions.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, ii. He volunteered no information about himself and his past life at Smyrna.
ellipt. 1893. H. Crackanthorpe, Wreckage, 178. When he started out late at night, he never volunteered where he was going.
6. To offer to give or supply.
1873. Tristram, Moab, i. 6. A delegate of the Ta‘amirah … volunteered a guard of his tribe.
7. With away: To surrender voluntarily.
1807. T. Jefferson, 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 Volunteered, Volunteering ppl. adjs.
1797. J. Symonds, in A. Young’s Autobiog., xii. (1898), 304. You justly reprobate volunteering infantry.
1864. Meredith, Sandra Belloni, xiv. In the end they deputed the volunteering Adela to sit with him in the library.
1886. Encycl. Brit., XXI. 791. With Godwin Shelley had opened a volunteered correspondence late in 1811.
1903. Morley, Gladstone, II. V. ii. 20. He was not forbidden to proceed upon his volunteered mission.
