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verb (used with object)
1.
to hire or engage the services of (a person or persons); provide employment for; have or keep in one's service: This factory employs thousands of people.
2.
to keep busy or at work; engage the attentions of: He employs himself by reading after work.
3.
to make use of (an instrument, means, etc.); use; apply: to employ a hammer to drive a nail.
4.
to occupy or devote (time, energies, etc.): I employ my spare time in reading. I employ all my energies in writing.
noun
5.
employment; service: to be in someone's employ.
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Employ
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is hornswoggle. Does it mean:
| to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax. |
| to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle. |
Origin:
1425–75; late Middle English employen < Anglo-French, Middle French emploier ≪ Latin implicāre to enfold (Late Latin: to engage); see implicate
1425–75; late Middle English employen < Anglo-French, Middle French emploier ≪ Latin implicāre to enfold (Late Latin: to engage); see implicate
Related forms
de-em·ployed, adjective
non·em·ploy·ing, adjective
o·ver·em·ploy, verb (used with object)
pre·em·ploy, verb (used with object)
re·em·ploy, verb (used with object)
EXPANDwell-em·ployed, adjective
COLLAPSE
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To employ
Example Sentences
- Greeting cards employ topical humor to compete with e-mail offerings.
- Our brains are belief engines that employ association learning to seek and find patterns.
- There are several methods you can employ to hide your e-mail address from spam .
Collins
World English Dictionary
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
employ
mid-15c., from M.Fr. employer, from O.Fr. empleier, from L. implicare "enfold, involve, be connected with," from in- "in" + plicare "to fold" see ply (v.)). Sense of "hire, engage" first recorded in English 1580s, from "involve in a particular purpose."
EXPAND Imply, which is the same word, retains more of the original sense.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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