Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a very large bottle.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Soldier’s-bottle a large one.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1738		Swift Polite Conversation 78: I hope you will give me a Soldier’s Bottle.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

‘goodbye, good luck and fuck you!’; ‘hello, how are you and fuck you!’.

1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 229/1: Soldier’s farewell (Garrison). ‘Go to bed’, with noisy additions.
1932		(con. WWI) L. Mann Flesh in Armour 266: ‘Soldiers’ farewell, Aussie, eh?’.
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 82: ‘Good-bye. I hope they’ll poke you into the Lock Hospital.’ ‘Soldier’s farewell to you.’.
1939		V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 148: We gave him what is vulgarly termed a ‘lag’s farewell’.
1961		(con. 1920s) J. Sparks Burglar to the Nobility 74: ‘What if I miss, and run over you?’ ‘Then when you hear the squelch [...] just raise your hand in the Soldier’s Farewell!’.
1962		L. Davidson Rose of Tibet 26: e could give the sailor’s farewell to the Head of the Edith Road Girls’ Secondary [...] and on any propitious day set up as an artist.

masturbation.

1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
2003		Gillian Welch ‘Wayside’ 🎵 When I got to Nashville, it was too much soldier’s joy.

see under maund n.

(US short order) fishballs and dropped eggs.

1886		N.Y. Dispatch 1 Aug. 7/6: ‘Waiter,’ said I, when it was my turn, ‘get me two fat fishballs with a dropped egg perched on top of each one.’ ‘Two soldiers on horseback riding by,’ he bawled.
1894		Witchita Dly Eagle (KS) 30 Oct. 6/6: We never say dropped eggs on fishballs [...] ‘soldiers on horseback riding by’ is shorter and plainer.

a piece of tallow or animal-fat candle.

1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

nothing; a drink of water and a cigarette or pipe.

1893		J.A. Barry Steve Brown’s Bunyip 31: A bite o’ rotten bread for breakfus, ditto for dinner, an’ a soldier’s supper, with lime-juice an’ winegar chucked in.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 229/1: Soldier’s supper (Garrison). Nothing at all – tea being the final meal of the day.

an empty pocket.

1841		C.H. Hartshorne Salopia Antiqua Gloss. 572: Soldier’s thigh, a slang term for an empty pocket .
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

the washing of one’s face with a scoop of water in cupped hands rather than using a flannel.

1906		Bridlington Free Press 16 Feb. 9/1: We might call this the sailors’ or soldiers’ wash [...] I very much doubt if the wash extends further than chest.
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 1112/2: [...] C.20.

see under come the... v.

1. an empty bottle; thus half-dead soldier, a partially empty bottle.

1890		Ariz. Wkly Jrnl-Miner Presscott, AZ) 13 Aug. 1/7: Dead Soldier; An empty whiskey bottle.
1892		Pittsburgh Dispatch (PA) 31 July 10/4: Will Become Dead Soldiers. The noble army of 8,000 bottles.
1899		F. Norris McTeague (1958) 127: A row of empty champagne bottles – ‘dead soldiers,’ as the facetious waiter had called them.
1901		Arkansas City Dly Traveler (KS) 31 Jan. 4/2: The list read: Two cases dead soldiers, 7 empty jugs.
1910		Spokane Press (WA) 27 Mar. 5/2: Old Man Trying to Get Corner on ‘Dead Soldiers’. Storing Empty Beer Bottles Away in Old Shack.
1915		(con. 1879) Tombstone Epitaph (AZ) 22 Aug. 4/1: I will explain that a dead soldier is an empty whiskey bottle.
1929		Winkler New Yorker 9 Feb. 40f: His aim with a dead soldier was unnerving [W&F].
1930		‘Dean Stiff’ Milk and Honey Route 203: Dead soldier – An empty whiskey bottle lying beside the road.
1940		R. Chandler Farewell, My Lovely (1949) 28: I held up the dead soldier and shook it.
1953		‘Curt Cannon’ ‘Die Hard’ in I Like ’Em Tough (1958) 16: I found a half-dead soldier in the drawer [...] and I poured a stiff one.
1956		‘Ed Lacy’ Men from the Boys (1967) 38: I kicked the fallen soldier under the bed.
1960		P. Rabe Murder Me for Nickels (2004) 107: The standard post-party formula of cigarette butts, dead soldiers [...] glasses with lipstick stains on the rim.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 134: Dead soldiers of scotch and bourbon glittered from the wastebasket.
1986		H. Selby Jr Song of the Silent Snow (1988) 35: Empty bottle passed back (clink) — no more, all gone, three dead soldiers.
1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 85: Lately he’d been drinking quite a bit. There were five dead soldiers on the table in front of him.
[2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 79: He screwed the lid back on the bottle [...] ‘Empty,’ he sighed. ‘I guess this little soldier’s ready to retire.’].
2023		A. Parks To Die in June 22: Billy had found a bottle of red wine amongst the dead soldiers on the table.
2023		D. Whish-Wilson I Am Already Dead 132: [B]eer cartons filled with dead soldiers.
2024		D. Swierczynski California Bear 119: ‘[T]hose half dozen dead soldiers on my kitchen table. How many were yours?’.

2. US drugs an empty crack vial.

2002

Simon & Burns ‘The Buys’ Wire ser. 1 ep. 3 [TV script] You walkin’ down them alleys in the projects, man, you steppin’ dead soldiers [...] empty vials.