employ

      English

      Alternative forms

      Etymology

      From Middle French employer, from Latin implicare (“to infold, involve, engage”), from in (“in”) + plicare (“to fold”). Compare imply and implicate, which are doublets of employ .

      Pronunciation

      • IPA: /ɪmˈplɔɪ/, /ɛmˈplɔɪ/
      • Audio (US)
        		(file)
        Rhymes: -ɔɪ

      Noun

      employ (plural employs)

      1. The state of being an employee; employment.
        The school district has six thousand teachers in its employ.

      Synonyms

      Verb

      employ (third-person singular simple present employs, present participle employing, simple past and past participle employed)

      1. To hire (somebody for work or a job).
        • 1668 July 3rd, James Dalrymple, “Thomas Rue contra Andrew Houſtoun” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 547
          Andrew Houſtoun and Adam Muſhet, being Tackſmen of the Excize, did Imploy Thomas Rue to be their Collector, and gave him a Sallary of 30. pound Sterling for a year.
      2. To use (somebody for a job, or something for a task).
        • 1598, William Shakespeare, Othello, Act 1, Scene iii:
          Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you / against the general enemy Ottoman.
        • 2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18: 
          The dispatches […] also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies. Having lectured the Arab world about democracy for years, its collusion in suppressing freedom was undeniable as protesters were met by weaponry and tear gas made in the west, employed by a military trained by westerners.
      3. To make busy.
        • 1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene viii:
          Let it not enter in your mind of love: / Be merry, and employ your chiefest thoughts / to courtship and such fair ostents of love / as shall conveniently become you there

      Derived terms

      Translations

      to give someone work
      to put into use
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      Last modified on 17 June 2013, at 09:18