employ definition | Dictionary.com

em⋅ploy

[em-ploi]

–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.

Origin:
1425–75; late ME employen < AF, MF emploier ≪ L implicāre to enfold (LL: to engage); see implicate

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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em·ploy (ěm-ploi')

tr.v. em·ployed, em·ploy·ing, em·ploys

1. To engage the services of; put to work: agreed to employ the job applicant.
2. To provide with gainful work: factories that employ thousands.
To put to use or service. See Synonyms at use.
To devote (time, for example) to an activity or purpose: employed several months in learning Swahili.

The state of being employed: in the employ of the city.
Archaic Occupation.

[Middle English emploien, from Old French emploier, from Latin implicāre, to involve : in-, in; see en-¹ + plicāre, to fold; see plek- in Indo-European roots.]
em·ploy'a·bil'i·ty n., em·ploy'a·ble adj., em·ploy'er n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Employ

Em*ploy"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Employed; p. pr. & vb. n. Employing.] [F. employer, fr. L. implicare to fold into, infold, involve, implicate, engage; in + plicare to fold. See Ply, and cf. Imply, Implicate.]

1. To inclose; to infold. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

2. To use; to have in service; to cause to be engaged in doing something; -- often followed by in, about, on, or upon, and sometimes by to; as: (a) To make use of, as an instrument, a means, a material, etc., for a specific purpose; to apply; as, to employ the pen in writing, bricks in building, words and phrases in speaking; to employ the mind; to employ one's energies.

This is a day in which the thoughts . . . ought to be employed on serious subjects. --Addison. (b) To occupy; as, to employ time in study. (c) To have or keep at work; to give employment or occupation to; to intrust with some duty or behest; as, to employ a hundred workmen; to employ an envoy.

Jonathan . . . and Jahaziah . . . were employed about this matter. --Ezra x. 15.

Thy vineyard must employ the sturdy steer To turn the glebe. --Dryden.

To employ one's self, to apply or devote one's time and attention; to busy one's self.

Syn: To use; busy; apply; exercise; occupy; engross; engage. See Use.

Employ

Em*ploy"\, n. [Cf. F. emploi.] That which engages or occupies a person; fixed or regular service or business; employment.

The whole employ of body and of mind. --Pope.

In one's employ, in one's service.

Language Translation for : employ

Spanish: emplear,

German: beschäftigen, anstellen,

Japanese: 雇う

More Translations »

employ

c.1460, 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 Eng. 1584, from "involve in a particular purpose." Imply, which is the same word, retains more of the original sense. Employee (mainly U.S.) is attested from 1850, from Fr. employé (fem. employeé), pp. of employer.

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