a soldier or fighter who is brave and experienced – used about people in the past.——朗文当代大辞典

A person whose occupation is warfare; a fighting man, whether soldier, sailor, or (latterly) airman; (in eulogistic sense) a valiant or an experienced man of war. Now chiefly poet. and rhetorical, esp. as applied to the fighting men of the ages celebrated in epic and romance and of pre-industrial peoples, for whom the designation soldier would be inappropriate.——牛津当代大辞典  @en