employ
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪmˈplɔɪ/
ipa: /ɛmˈplɔɪ/
rhymes: -ɔɪ
Forms: form: employs
form: employing
form: employed
form: employed
form: imploy
Etymology: From late Middle English emploien, imploien, emplien (“to apply to a specific purpose”), from Anglo-Norman emploier, Old French emploiier (“to entangle, fabricate, to make use of”), ultimately from Latin implicāre (“to infold, entangle, involve, engage”), from in- (“in”) + plicāre (“to fold”). Doublet of imply and implicate.
Senses: examples: text: Our company employs hundreds of people.
text: 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.
ref: 1668 July 3rd, James Dalrymple, “Thomas Rue contra Andrew Houſtoun” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 547
text: Charles had not been employed above six months at Darracott Place, but he was not such a whopstraw as to make the least noise in the performance of his duties when his lordship was out of humour.
ref: 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
text: The site—which was established in its current form in 2009—employs 60 people and says it gets 12 million visitors a month.
ref: 2012 May 24, Farhad Manjoo, “BOMBSHELL: Business Insider Kinda Brilliant”, in Slate, archived from the original on 05 Jun 2023:
glosses: To retain (someone) as an employee.
examples: text: Yesterday our local garage employed a new mechanic.
text: The management, who were close personal friends, had just employed a new chef.
ref: 2004, Jay Rayner, The Apologist, London: Atlantic Books, →ISBN, page 54:
glosses: To provide (someone) with a new job; to hire.
examples: text: The burglar employed a jemmy to get in.
text: Valiant Othello, we muſt straight employ you, / Againſt the generall Enemy Ottoman.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 313, column 1:
text: This is a day in which the thoughts[…]ought to be employed on serious subjects.
ref: 1715 April 10 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 29. Wednesday, March 30. [1715.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC:
text: As to eleemoſynary corporations, by the dotation the founder and his heirs are of common right the legal viſitors, to ſee that that property is rightly employed, which would otherwiſe have deſcended to the viſitor himſelf: […]
ref: 1765, William Blackstone, “Of Corporations”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book I (Of the Rights of Persons), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 469:
text: Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.
ref: 2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200:
text: 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.
ref: 2013 June 2, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at the heart of the trial of Bradley Manning”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 May 2023:
text: That insight may not seem surprising, given war's dampening effects on economic activity. But the research employed a new tool for recognizing the effects.
ref: 2015 August 22, John Schwartz, “Study Finds Surprising Byproduct of Middle Eastern Conflicts: Cleaner Air”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Jun 2022:
text: Whatever they employ, I’ll exploit, make null and void!
ref: 2018, Jhariah Clare, “City of Ashes”, in The Great Tale of How I Ruined it All:
synonyms: apply
use
utilize
glosses: To use (someone or something) for a job or task.
examples: text: Let it not enter in your minde of loue: / Be merry, and imploy your chiefeſt thoughts / To courtſhip, and ſuch faire oſtents of loue / As ſhall conueniently become you there;
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene viii], page 171, column 2:
text: I heard the woods, and distant waters, roar; / Or heard them not, as happy as a Boy: / The pleasant season did my heart employ:
ref: 1815 [1802], William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence:
synonyms: occupy
busy
glosses: To make busy; to preoccupy.
Synonyms: word: apply
word: appoint
word: bestow
word: brook
word: commission
word: commit
word: employ
word: exercise
word: exploit
word: handle
word: make use
word: ply
word: put to use
word: spend
word: suborn
word: take advantage of
word: use
word: utilize
word: wield
Hypernyms: word: choose
word: select
Hyponyms: word: hire
word: put to good use
Derived terms: disemploy
employable
employ a steam engine to crack a nut
employed
employer
employless
employment
malemploy
misemploy
nonemploying
overemploy
preemploy
reemploy
re-employemployee
unemploy
Related terms: word: apply
word: employé
word: implicate
word: imply
word: manipulate