buck private
1
8.2
- noun
- /bʌk ˈpraɪvɪt/
- Archaic
:
soldado raso
- After basic training, she was promoted from recruit to buck private.
Examples
-
The "True Conservatives" nominated a buck private for a special forces job, were surprised that some of us said it was a bad idea, complained about our demands to replace him, and are now blaming us for this?
Blog text (8) -
The only thing lower is a buck private, you know.
Blog text (23) -
These were the buck privates.
-
You took a bust to buck private to transfer to an infantry outfit.
-
The buck privates have fought their war and won.
-
Well, creating the Perfect Buck Private is no box of chocolates, mister.
-
Well, in the end, the South, from the highest ranks of Jefferson Davis on down to Buck privates are all going to say they were fighting for their liberty.
-
Alex, off to serve his country as a buck private, marched with a platoon of other young bucks, proles mostly, none out of Albany Academy, Groton, and Yale like him, and none with the boneheaded insistence on rolling dice for his life.
Fiction book (2002) -
As a buck private, he had to follow orders without question.
-
The young soldier was proud to serve as a buck private in the army.
Synonyms
76
3.7
A soldier of the lowest rank in the army or marines
41
7.0
A low-level soldier or worker who does basic routine tasks
16
4.9
A man who serves in the military but is not an officer
1
7.2
The lowest rank for a soldier in some armies
1
2.8
A person in the army or marines with the lowest rank
1
4.9
A member of the armed forces who is not an officer
1
8.6
A person who serves or served in the armed forces but is not an officer
Surface Forms
Morphology
buck + private
Although 'private' clearly denotes a lowest-rank soldier, the word 'buck' (male deer, dollar, or verb meaning to resist) does not transparently contribute that sense; there is no obvious compositional logic that yields 'an enlisted man of the lowest rank.' This is a historical/colloquial military idiom whose specific meaning is lexicalized, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words would not reliably infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Buck private may come from old slang where buck meant a common or young man, like a lone deer, and private meant a basic soldier, so the image is of a plain, inexperienced soldier. That's why buck private came to mean 'a soldier of the lowest rank'.