DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Vol·un·ta·ry a.
 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.
 2. Unconstrained by the interference of another; unimpelled by the influence of another; not prompted or persuaded by another; done of his or its own accord; spontaneous; acting of one's self, or of itself; free.
    Our voluntary service he requires.   --Milton.
    She fell to lust a voluntary prey.   --Pope.
 3. Done by design or intention; intentional; purposed; intended; not accidental; as, if a man kills another by lopping a tree, it is not voluntary manslaughter.
 4. Physiol. Of or pertaining to the will; subject to, or regulated by, the will; as, the voluntary motions of an animal, such as the movements of the leg or arm (in distinction from involuntary motions, such as the movements of the heart); the voluntary muscle fibers, which are the agents in voluntary motion.
 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 did outwardly proceed from him.   --Hooker.
 6. Law Free; without compulsion; according to the will, consent, or agreement, of a party; without consideration; gratuitous; without valuable consideration.
 7. Eccl. Of or pertaining to voluntaryism; as, a voluntary church, in distinction from an established or state church.
 Voluntary affidavit or Voluntary oath Law, an affidavit or oath made in an extrajudicial matter.
 Voluntary conveyance Law, a conveyance without valuable consideration.
 Voluntary escape Law, the escape of a prisoner by the express consent of the sheriff.
 Voluntary jurisdiction. Eng. Eccl. Law See Contentious jurisdiction, under Contentious.
 Voluntary waste. Law See Waste, n., 4.
 Syn: -- See Spontaneous.