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Webster 1913 Edition

Mercenary

Mer′ce-na-ry

,
Adj.
[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
.
2.
Hence:
Moved primarily by considerations of pay or profit; greedy of gain; sordid; selfish.
Shak.
For God forbid I should my papers blot
With
mercenary
lines, with servile pen.
Daniel.
Syn. – See
Venal
.

Mer′ce-na-ry

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Mercenaries
.
One who is hired; a hireling; especially, a soldier hired into foreign service.
Milman.

Webster 1828 Edition

Mercenary

MER'CENARY

,
Adj.
[L. mercenarius, from merces, reward, wages, mercor, to guy.]
1.
Venal; that may be hired; actuated by the hope of reward; moved by the love of money; as a mercenary prince or judge.
2.
Hired; purchased by money; as mercenary services; mercenary soldiers.
3.
Sold for money; as mercenary blood.
4.
Greedy of gain; mean; selfish; as a mercenary disposition.
5.
Contracted from motives of gain; as a mercenary marriage.

MER'CENARY

,
Noun.
One who is hired; a soldier that is hired into foreign service; a hireling.

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