employ

== English == === Alternative forms === imploy (obsolete) === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ɪmˈplɔɪ/, /ɛmˈplɔɪ/ Rhymes: -ɔɪ === Etymology 1 === 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. ==== Verb ==== employ (third-person singular simple present employs, present participle employing, simple past and past participle employed) To retain (someone) as an employee. 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. (rare) To provide (someone) with a new job; to hire. To use (someone or something) for a job or task. Synonyms: apply, use, utilize To make busy; to preoccupy. Synonyms: occupy, busy ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Related terms ===== ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 2 === Borrowed from French emploi (“job, employment”), the deverbal from employer (“to put to use, to employ”), first attested in the late 17th century. ==== Noun ==== employ (plural employs) The state of being an employee; employment. (archaic) An occupation. (obsolete) The act of employing someone or making use of something; employment. ===== Translations ===== === References === === Further reading === “employ”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “employ”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. “employ”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.