Emily Dickinson Lexicon

VOL'UN-TA-RY, a.

1. [Fr. volontaire; L. voluntarius, from voluntas, will, from volo. Voluntary is applicable only to beings that have will; spontaneous is applicable to physical causes, as well as to the will of an agent.
2. Acting by choice or spontaneously; acting without being influenced or impelled by another.
3. Free, or having power to act by choice; not being under restraint; as, man is a voluntary agent. – Hooker.
4. Proceeding from choice or free will. That sin or guilt pertains exclusively to voluntary action, is the true principle of orthodoxy. – N. W. Taylor.
5. Willing; acting with willingness. She fell to lust a voluntary prey. – Pope.
6. Done by design; purposed; intended. If a man kills another by lopping a tree, here is a no voluntary murder.
7. Done freely, or of choice; proceeding from free will. He went into voluntary exile. He made a voluntary surrender.
8. Acting of his own accord; spontaneous; as, the voluntary dictates of knowledge.
9. Subject to the will; as, the voluntary motions of an animal. Thus the motion of a leg or an arm is voluntary, but the motion of the heart is involuntary. A voluntary escape, in law, is the escape of a prisoner by the express consent of the sherif. Voluntary jurisdiction, is that which is exercised in doing that which no one opposes; as in granting dispensations, &c. Voluntary affidavit or oath, is one made in an extra-judicial matter. Voluntary waste, is that which is committed by positive acts.