Vŏl'un-ta-ry1, a.
(44), a. [Lat. voluntarius, from voluntas, will, choice, from volens, p. pr. of volo, velle, to will; Fr. volontaire, Pr. voluntari, voluntarii, Sp. & Pg. voluntario, It. volontario.]
Sense 1. Proceeding from the will; produced in or by an act of choice.
That sin or guilt pertains exclusively to voluntary action is the true principle of orthodoxy. N. W. Taylor.
Sense 2. Unconstrained by the interference of another; unimpelled by the influence of another; not prompted or persuaded by another; of his or its own accord; spontaneous; of one's self, or of itself; free.
Our voluntary service he requires not. Milton.
She fell to lust a voluntary prey. Pope.
Sense 3. Done by design or intention; purposed; intended; as, if a man kills another by lopping a tree, it is not voluntary manslaughter.
Sense 4. Subject to the will; pertaining to the will; regulated by the will; as, the voluntary motions of an animal; the motion of a leg or an arm is voluntary, but the motion of the heart is involuntary.
Sense 5. Endowed with the power of willing; as, man is a voluntary agent.
God did not work as a necessary, but a voluntary, agent, intending beforehand, and decreeing with himself, that which outwardly proceeds from him. Hooker.
Sense 6. (Law.) Free; without compulsion; according to the will, consent, or agreement, of a party; without consideration; gratuitous; without valuable consideration.
Voluntary affidavit or oath (Law), an affidavit or oath made in an extrajudicial matter.—Voluntary conveyance, a conveyance without valuable consideration.—Voluntary escape (Law), the escape of a prisoner by the express consent of the sheriff.—Voluntary jurisdiction, that which is exercised in doing what no one opposes, as in granting dispensations, and the like.—Voluntary muscle (Anat.), muscular fiber which contracts in accordance with the action of the will.—Voluntary nerve, nerve distributed to voluntary muscle.—Voluntary waste, waste committed by positive acts.
Synonyms—See SPONTANEOUS.