employ
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.
to keep busy or at work; engage the attentions of: He employs himself by reading after work.
to occupy or devote (time, energies, etc.): I employ my spare time in reading. I employ all my energies in writing.
employment; service: to be in someone's employ.
Origin of employ
1Other words from employ
- 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)
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use employ in a sentence
The auctioneer talks about knowing and employing royalty, and celebrity big spenders.
William, Kate, and Jay Z’s Favorite Art Star: Alexander Gilkes' World of Rock Stars and Royalty | Tim Teeman | December 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHe emphasized that employing people with IDD is a triple win: the employer, the employee, and the federal government all benefit.
Hiring People With Disabilities Isn’t Just the Right Thing to Do—It’s Good for Business | Elizabeth Picciuto | October 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIsrael, however, contends that UNRWA sustains Hamas by employing and sheltering its members.
Not a single political cycle goes by without some major candidate employing the tricks outlined in the series.
A 200-Hour ‘Simpsons’ Marathon? That’s Unpossible! | Rich Goldstein | July 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBig Sugar, advocates say, is employing strategies reminiscent of Big Tobacco in its heyday.
Guess Who Doesn’t Want You to Know How Much Added Sugar Is in Your Food | Tim Mak | July 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
This rule though does not prevent him from employing other persons for a minor service.
Putnam's Handy Law Book for the Layman | Albert Sidney BollesIn employing these heavy pressures of wind, increased purity and beauty of tone should alone be aimed at.
The Recent Revolution in Organ Building | George Laing MillerEngineers are everywhere at work studying the practicability of employing new forces.
Occasionally the fire of adjacent battalions, or of infantry employing fire of position, as explained in par.
Manual of Military Training | James A. MossM. d'Hervart had enlarged and decorated his new abode, employing for the interior frescoes the painter Mignard, Molire's friend.
The Stones of Paris in History and Letters, Volume I (of 2) | Benjamin Ellis Martin
British Dictionary definitions for employ
/ (ɪmˈplɔɪ) /
to engage or make use of the services of (a person) in return for money; hire
to provide work or occupation for; keep busy; occupy: collecting stamps employs a lot of his time
to use as a means: to employ secret measures to get one's ends
the state of being employed (esp in the phrase in someone's employ)
Origin of employ
1Derived forms of employ
- employable, adjective
- employability, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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