Word of the Day: Pioneer

pi-o-neer / ˌpīəˈnir   noun  

1. one who is among those who first set foot in or settle a region

To the lost man, to the pioneer penetrating a new country, to the naturalist who wishes to see the wild land at its wildest, the advice is always the same – follow a river. Edwin Way Teale, 1899-1980  

2. one who is the first or among the first in any field of progress, enterprise, etc.

It is not easy to be a pioneer – but oh, it is fascinating! Elizabeth Blackwell, 1821-1910  

3. a member of a group of engineering soldiers in the military

The Pioneer has long been an established rank within the U.S. Regular Army, however, these pioneers only amounted to a negligible segment of the regular army population prior to the Civil War. from ‘Crossed Hatchets and Detached Service: The Creation of the Pioneer Brigade’ by Cody J. Harding, ?-  

4. an organism that successfully establishes itself in a barren or previously undisturbed area, thus creating an ecological cycle of life

Typical pioneers in a succession include grasses in a plowed field or lichens on rocks. peer.tamu.edu/NSF_Files/Ecological%20Succession.doc  

5. in aeronautics, capitalized, one of a series of space probes that explored the solar system and transmitted information to Earth

Thanks to Pioneer 10’s pictures, the planet Jupiter and its moons, which were formerly only small circles in a telescope, became large, vibrant worlds in the eyes of scientists. Elizabeth Howell, ?- https://www.space.com/17651-pioneer-10.html     verb  

1. to be the first to prepare a way, etc.

Pioneering is the work of individuals. Susanne Katherina Langer, 1895-1985  

2. to initiate or take part in the development of

Renewable energy also creates more jobs than other sources of energy – most of these will be created in the struggling manufacturing sector, which will pioneer the new energy future by investment that allows manufacturers to retool and adopt new technologies and methods. Jay Inslee, 1951-