[f. ENLIST v. + -MENT.]
1. The action or process of enlisting men for military service; the action of engaging oneself for military service. Also fig. and attrib.
1765. T. Hutchinson, Hist. Col. Mass., i. 139. Lest there should not be a voluntary inlistment.
1810. Wellington, in Gurw., Disp., VI. 78. The enlistment of persons of this description in the corps of this army.
1864. Sala, in Daily Tel., 27 July, 5/2. Disfigured by enlistment huts and rendezvous tents for the army and navy.
1871. Macduff, Mem. Patmos, viii. 108. Different subjects for the enlistment of their immortal energies.
1879. Soldiering, in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., III. 139. The smooth-sounding title of ‘lowering the standard of enlistment.’
2. ‘The document by which a soldier is bound’ (Webster). ? U.S. only.
