employ

[em-ploi]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR employ ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

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.

noun

employment; service: to be in someone's employ.

Origin of employ

1425–75; late Middle English employen < Anglo-French, Middle French emploier ≪ Latin implicāre to enfold (Late Latin: to engage); see implicate

Related formsde-em·ployed, adjectivenon·em·ploy·ing, adjectiveo·ver·em·ploy, verb (used with object)pre·em·ploy, verb (used with object)re·em·ploy, verb (used with object)well-em·ployed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for employed

occupied, engaged, busy, selected, operating, signed, laboring, active

Examples from the Web for employed

Contemporary Examples of employed

In fact, the estrogen that they employed did worse than castrate the subject—it could act as a cerebral depressant.
The Castration of Alan Turing, Britain’s Code-Breaking WWII Hero
Clive Irving
November 29, 2014
Apparently, the Major Case Squad is employed when homicides are fresh, East St. Louis Det. Gilda Johnson told me.
The Disappearing Cops of East St. Louis
Justin Glawe
November 26, 2014
It has always featured the very best voices and employed the most sophisticated stagecraft of any opera house.
Inside the Metropolitan Opera’s Insane Year
Shawn E. Milnes
November 23, 2014
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, Too
Jillian Keenan
October 6, 2014

Historical Examples of employed

Since that time, he has been employed as coachman by Uri Gilbert, Esq., of this city.
Harriet, The Moses of Her People
Sarah H. Bradford
We employed our spare time in gymnastics, in turning, and in rambles.
The Grand Old Man
Richard 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.
Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia
Thomas Mitchell

British Dictionary definitions for employed

employ

verb (tr)

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

noun

the state of being employed (esp in the phrase in someone's employ)

Derived Formsemployable, adjectiveemployability, noun

Word Origin for employ

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

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.