grenadier

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A member of the British Grenadier Guards, the first regiment of the royal household infantry.
2. n. A soldier who is a member of a special corps or regiment.
3. n. A soldier equipped with grenades.
4. n. Any of various deep-sea fishes of the family Macrouridae, having a long tapering tail and lacking a tail fin. Also called rat-tail.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Originally, a soldier who threw hand-grenades. Soldiers of long service and acknowledged bravery were selected for this duty. They were the foremost in assaults. At first there were only a few grenadiers in each regiment, but companies of grenadiers were formed in France in 1670, and in England a few years later. When hand-grenades went out of general use, the name was still retained for the company, the members of which were of great stature and were distinguished by a particular uniform, as for instance the high bearskin cap. In the British and French armies the grenadier company was the first of each battalion. Now the companies of a battalion or a regiment are equalized in size and other matters, and the title in the British army remains only to the regiment of Grenadier Guards.
2. n. A South African weaver-bird, Ploceus (Pyromelana) oryx: so called from its brilliant red and black plumage.
3. n. A fish, Macrurus fabricii or M. rupestris, found in deep water of the North Atlantic. Also called rattail.
4. n. plural The family Macruridæ.

Wiktionary

1. n. A type of soldier, originally one who threw grenades, later a member of a company formed from the tallest men of the regiment; now specifically, a member of the Grenadier Guards.
2. n. Any of various African weaverbirds or waxbills, especially the common grenadier or the red bishop.
3. n. Any of various deep-sea fish of the family Macrouridae that have a large head and body and a long tapering tail; a rat-tail.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Mil.) Originaly, a soldier who carried and threw grenades; afterward, one of a company attached to each regiment or battalion, taking post on the right of the line, and wearing a peculiar uniform. In modern times, a member of a special regiment or corps; one of the regiment of Grenadier Guards of the British army, etc.
2. n. (Zoöl.) Any marine fish of the genus Macrurus, in which the body and tail taper to a point; they mostly inhabit the deep sea; -- called also onion fish, and rat-tail fish.
3. n. (Zoöl.) A bright-colored South African grosbeak (Pyromelana orix), having the back red and the lower parts black.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. deep-sea fish with a large head and body and long tapering tail
2. n. an infantryman equipped with grenades