a newly enlisted or drafted member of the armed forces.
2.
a new member of a group, organization, or the like.
3.
a fresh supply of something.
–verb (used with object)
4.
to enlist (a person) for service in one of the armed forces.
5.
to raise (a force) by enlistment.
6.
to strengthen or supply (an armed force) with new members.
7.
to furnish or replenish with a fresh supply; renew.
8.
to renew or restore (the health, strength, etc.).
9.
to attempt to acquire the services of (a person) for an employer: She recruits executives for all the top companies.
10.
to attempt to enroll or enlist (a member, affiliate, student, or the like): a campaign to recruit new club members.
11.
to seek to enroll (an athlete) at a school or college, often with an offer of an athletic scholarship.
–verb (used without object)
12.
to enlist persons for service in one of the armed forces.
13.
to engage in finding and attracting employees, new members, students, athletes, etc.
14.
to recover health, strength, etc.
15.
to gain new supplies of anything lost or wasted.
[Origin: 1635–45; < F, s. of recruter, deriv. of recrue new growth, n. use of fem. ptp. of recroǐtre (re-re-+ croǐtre < L créscere to grow; cf. crescent)]
To strengthen or raise (an armed force) by enlistment.
To supply with new members or employees.
To enroll or seek to enroll: colleges recruiting minority students.
To replenish.
To renew or restore the health, vitality, or intensity of.
v.
intr.
To raise a military force.
To obtain replacements for or new supplies of something lost, wasted, or needed.
To regain lost health or strength; recover.
n.
A newly engaged member of a military force, especially one of the lowest rank or grade.
A new member of an organization or body.
[French recruter, from obsolete recrute, recruit, variant of recrue, from feminine past participle of recroître, to grow again, from Old French recroistre : re-, re- + croistre, to grow (from Latin crēscere; see ker-2 in Indo-European roots).]
1635, "to strengthen, reinforce," from obsolete Fr. recruter (17c.), from recrute, Picardy dialect variant of recrue "levy," lit. "new growth," from O.Fr. recreu, pp. of recreistre "grow or increase again," from re- "again" + creistre "to grow," from L. crescere "to grow" (see crescent). "The French word first appeared in literary use in gazettes published in Holland, and was disapproved of by French writers in the latter part of the 17th c." [OED]. Sense of "to enlist new soldiers" is attested from 1655; of student athletes, from 1913. Noun meaning "body of military reinforcements" is attested from 1645 (replacing earlier recrew, recrue).
Re*cruit"\ (r?*kr?t"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Recruited; p. pr. & vb. n. Recruiting.] [F. recruter, corrupted (under influence of recrue recruiting, recruit, from recro[^i]/tre, p. p. recr[^u], to grow again) from an older recluter, properly, to patch, to mend (a garment); pref. re- + OF. clut piece, piece of cloth; cf. Icel. kl[=u]tr kerchief, E. clout.]1. To repair by fresh supplies, as anything wasted; to remedy lack or deficiency in; as, food recruits the flesh; fresh air and exercise recruit the spirits. Her cheeks glow the brighter, recruiting their color. --Glanvill. 2. Hence, to restore the wasted vigor of; to renew in strength or health; to reinvigorate. 3. To supply with new men, as an army; to fill up or make up by enlistment; as, he recruited two regiments; the army was recruited for a campaign; also, to muster; to enlist; as, he recruited fifty men. --M. Arnold.
Re*cruit"\, v. i. 1. To gain new supplies of anything wasted; to gain health, flesh, spirits, or the like; to recuperate; as, lean cattle recruit in fresh pastures. 2. To gain new supplies of men for military or other service; to raise or enlist new soldiers; to enlist troops.
Re*cruit"\, n. 1. A supply of anything wasted or exhausted; a re["e]nforcement. The state is to have recruits to its strength, and remedies to its distempers. --Burke. 2. Specifically, a man enlisted for service in the army; a newly enlisted soldier.
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