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In a voluntary manner; of one's own will; spontaneously.

In an involuntary manner; not voluntarily; not intentionally or willingly.

To hold one's self aloof; to forbear or refrain voluntarily, and especially from an indulgence of the passions or appetites; -- with from. Not a few abstained from voting. Macaulay. Who abstains from meat that is not gaunt Shak.

In an active manner; nimbly; briskly; energetically; also, by one's own action; voluntarily, not passively.

o take by choice into relationship, as, child, heir, friend, citizen, etc. ; esp. to take voluntarily (a child of other parents) to be in the place of, or as, one's own child.

To convey or transfer to another, as title, property, or right; to part voluntarily with ownership of.

An abandonment of what one has voluntarily professed; a total desertion of departure from one's faith, principles, or party; esp., the renunciation of a religious faith; as, Julian's apostasy from Christianity.

military service, etc. -- Conscience money, stolen or wrongfully acquired money that is voluntarily restored to the rightful possessor. Such money paid into the United States treasury by unknown debtors is called the Conscience fund. -- Court of Conscience, a court established for the recovery of small debts, in Lon…

The act or contract by which a person voluntarily transfers the title to a thing of which be is the owner, from himself to another, without any consideration, as a free gift. Bouvier. Donation party, a party assembled at the house of some one, as of a clergyman, each one bringing some present. [U.S.] Bartlett.…

To practice abstinence as a religious exercise or duty; to abstain from food voluntarily for a time, for the mortification of the body or appetites, or as a token of grief, or humiliation and penitence. Thou didst fast and weep for the child. 2 Sam. xii. 21. Fasting day, a fast day; a day of fasting.…

Anything given; anything voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation; a present; an offering. Shall I receive by gift, what of my own, . . . I can command Milton.

Something voluntarily given in return for a favor or service, as a recompense or acknowledgment.

The faculty or power of voluntarily producing light, as in the firefly and glowworm.

A nervous disease in which the patient involuntarily imitates the words or action of another.

That which a person does, either voluntarily or by appointment, for, or with reference to, others; customary duty, or a duty that arises from the relations of man to man; as, kind offices, pious offices. I would I could do a good office between you. Shak.

necessary intervention of consciousness. Reflex action (Physiol.), any action performed involuntarily in consequence of an impulse or impression transmitted along afferent nerves to a nerve center, from which it is reflected to an efferent nerve, and so calls into action certain muscles, organs, or cells. -- Reflex ne…

The compensation allowed to persons who voluntarily assist in saving a ship or her cargo from peril.

Exiled voluntarily.

Voluntarily taken on one's self; as, self-imposed tasks.

One who serves, or does services, voluntarily or on compulsion; a person who is employed by another for menial offices, or for other labor, and is subject to his command; a person who labors or exerts himself for the benefit of another, his master or employer; a subordinate helper. "A yearly hired servant." Lev. xxv. 5…