employ
[em-ploi]
- 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 make use of (an instrument, means, etc.); use; apply: to employ a hammer to drive a nail.
- to occupy or devote (time, energies, etc.): I employ my spare time in reading. I employ all my energies in writing.
Show More
- employment; service: to be in someone's employ.
Show More
Origin of employ
1425–75; late Middle English employen < Anglo-French, Middle French emploier ≪ Latin implicāre to enfold (Late Latin: to engage); see implicate
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for employed
Contemporary Examples
In fact, the estrogen that they employed did worse than castrate the subject—it could act as a cerebral depressant.
Apparently, the Major Case Squad is employed when homicides are fresh, East St. Louis Det. Gilda Johnson told me.
It has always featured the very best voices and employed the most sophisticated stagecraft of any opera house.
Politicians of both major political parties have employed "Born in the U.S.A." in recent years.
Are Politicians Too Dumb to Understand the Lyrics to ‘Born in the USA’?Parker Molloy
November 6, 2014
Taxes are an obvious benchmark, since right now, employed teenagers are literally subjected to taxation without representation.
Paying Taxes and Going to Jail Like Adults; Teens Deserve the Right to Vote, TooJillian Keenan
October 6, 2014
Historical Examples
Since that time, he has been employed as coachman by Uri Gilbert, Esq., of this city.
Harriet, The Moses of Her PeopleSarah H. Bradford
We employed our spare time in gymnastics, in turning, and in rambles.
The Grand Old ManRichard B. Cook
And how do you think Bella employed herself while I was writing?
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
There you will guess how the greatest part of the hour was employed.
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
He had come from the station of Mr.——, where he was employed as stockman.
employ
- to engage or make use of the services of (a person) in return for money; hire
- to provide work or occupation for; keep busy; occupycollecting stamps employs a lot of his time
- to use as a meansto employ secret measures to get one's ends
Show More
- the state of being employed (esp in the phrase in someone's employ)
Show More
Word Origin
C15: from Old French emploier, from Latin implicāre to entangle, engage, from plicāre to fold
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
Word Origin and History for employed
employ
v.
early 15c., from Middle French employer, from Old French emploiier (12c.) "make use of, apply; increase; entangle; devote," from Latin implicare "enfold, involve, be connected with," from in- (see in- (2)) + plicare "to fold" (see ply (v.1)).
Sense of "hire, engage" first recorded in English 1580s, from "involve in a particular purpose," a sense which arose in Late Latin. Related: Employed; employing. The noun is 1660s, from French emploi. Imply, which is the same word, retains more of the original sense.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper