hire

[ hahyuhr ]
See synonyms for: hirehiredhiring on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),hired, hir·ing.
  1. to engage the services of (someone) for wages or other payment: The company hired three new engineers in the last quarter.

  2. to engage the temporary use of at a set price; rent: We hired a limousine to get us to the wedding in style.

noun
  1. the act of hiring.

  2. the state or condition of being hired.

  1. the price or compensation paid or contracted to be paid for the temporary use of something or for personal services or labor; pay: The laborer is worthy of his hire.

  2. Informal. a person hired or to be hired: Most of our new hires are college-educated.

adjective
  1. British. available for hire; rental: a hire car.

Verb Phrases
  1. hire on, to obtain employment; take a job: They hired on as wranglers with the rodeo.

  2. hire out, to offer or exchange one's services for payment: He hired himself out as a handyman.

Idioms about hire

  1. for hire, available for use or service in exchange for payment.: Also on hire.

Origin of hire

1
First recorded before 1000; (verb) Middle English hiren, Old English hȳrian (cognate with Dutch huren, Low German hüren, Old Frisian hēra ); (noun) Middle English; Old English hȳr; cognate with Dutch huur, Low German hüre (whence Dutch hyre, Swedish hyra, German Heuer ), Frisian hēre

synonym study For hire

2. Hire, charter, rent refer to paying money for the use of something. Hire is a general word, most commonly applied to paying money for labor or services, but is also used in reference to paying for the temporary use of automobiles (usually with a chauffeur), halls, etc.; in New England, it is used in speaking of borrowing money on which interest is to be paid (to distinguish from borrowing from a friend, who would not accept any interest): to hire a gardener, a delivery truck, a hall for a convention. Charter formerly meant to pay for the use of a vessel, but is now applied with increasing frequency to leasing any conveyance for the use of a group: to charter a boat, a bus, a plane. Rent is used in the latter sense, also, but is usually applied to paying a set sum once or at regular intervals for the use of a dwelling, room, personal effects, an automobile (which one drives oneself), etc.: to rent a business building.

Other words for hire

Other words from hire

  • hir·ee [hahyuhr-ee], /ˌhaɪərˈi/, noun
  • hir·er, noun
  • out·hire, verb (used with object), out·hired, out·hir·ing.
  • pre·hir·ing, adjective
  • re·hire, verb, re·hired, re·hir·ing, noun
  • un·hired, adjective

Words that may be confused with hire

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hire in a sentence

  • The bailor is not responsible generally for any negligence of the hirer in operating the car.

  • There is an implied obligation on the hirer's part to use the car only for the purpose and in the manner for which it was hired.

  • Impasse St-Fiacre, the word saint cut away at the Revolution, where dwelt the first hirer-out of cabs; hence the term fiacre.

    Historic Paris | Jetta S. Wolff
  • Trips other than those above specified shall be subject to special arrangement between letter and hirer.

    The Yosemite | John Muir
  • The hirer of animals was under a legal obligation to take proper care of them, and omission to do so involved a penalty.

    Mesopotamian Archaeology | Percy S. P. Handcock

British Dictionary definitions for hire

hire

/ (ˈhaɪə) /


verb(tr)
  1. to acquire the temporary use of (a thing) or the services of (a person) in exchange for payment

  2. to employ (a person) for wages

  1. (often foll by out) to provide (something) or the services of (oneself or others) for an agreed payment, usually for an agreed period

  2. (tr foll by out) mainly British to pay independent contractors for (work to be done)

noun
    • the act of hiring or the state of being hired

    • (as modifier): a hire car

    • the price paid or payable for a person's services or the temporary use of something

    • (as modifier): the hire charge

  1. for hire or on hire available for service or temporary use in exchange for payment

Origin of hire

1
Old English hӯrian; related to Old Frisian hēra to lease, Middle Dutch hūren

Derived forms of hire

  • hirable or hireable, adjective
  • hirer, 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