recruit
- a newly enlisted or drafted member of the armed forces.
- a new member of a group, organization, or the like.
- a fresh supply of something.
- to enlist (a person) for service in one of the armed forces.
- to raise (a force) by enlistment.
- to strengthen or supply (an armed force) with new members.
- to furnish or replenish with a fresh supply; renew.
- to renew or restore (the health, strength, etc.).
- to attempt to acquire the services of (a person) for an employer: She recruits executives for all the top companies.
- to attempt to enroll or enlist (a member, affiliate, student, or the like): a campaign to recruit new club members.
- to seek to enroll (an athlete) at a school or college, often with an offer of an athletic scholarship.
- to enlist persons for service in one of the armed forces.
- to engage in finding and attracting employees, new members, students, athletes, etc.
- to recover health, strength, etc.
- to gain new supplies of anything lost or wasted.
Origin of recruit
Related Words
rookiesoldiersailornewcomertraineevolunteerdrafteeenrollengageraiseenlistdraftmobilizeimproveselectconverttenderfoothelperbeginnerproselyteExamples from the Web for recruit
Contemporary Examples
He also was working to recruit Castro as a driver for a drug load.
The company declined to comment on their efforts to recruit more women, but the current drivers say they are working hard at it.
But then something funny happened: The GOP actually began to recruit black and Hispanic candidates.
She is accused of using her celebrity to recruit socially disadvantaged minors with the potential to become professional models.
In April of this year, the FBI tried to recruit a member of the Guantanamo defense team as an informant.
Historical Examples
The air is so pure, too, that people come there to recruit their health.
FruitfulnessEmile Zola
Oh, didn't I kiss your uncle Pascal when he brought you here to recruit your health!'
Abbe Mouret's TransgressionEmile Zola
She did what seemed easiest—she took him down to recruit at Howards End.
Howards EndE. M. Forster
He had been sick and had come on board in order to recruit his health.
Hair Breadth EscapesT. S. Arthur
These exercises correct the form of the body and transform the recruit into a soldier.
recruit
- to enlist (men) for military service
- to raise or strengthen (an army, navy, etc) by enlistment
- (tr) to enrol or obtain (members, support, etc)
- to furnish or be furnished with a fresh supply; renew
- archaic to recover (health, strength, spirits, etc)
- a newly joined member of a military service
- any new member or supporter
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for recruit
v.
1630s, "to strengthen, reinforce," from French recruter (17c.), from recrute "a levy, a recruit" (see recruit (n.)). Sense of "to enlist new soldiers" is attested from 1650s; of student athletes, from 1913. Related: Recruited; recruiting.
n.
"military reinforcement, one of a newly raised body of troops," 1640s, from recruit (v)., replacing earlier recrew, recrue; or from obsolete French recrute, alteration of recreue "a supply," recrue "a levy of troops" (late 16c.), Picardy or Hainault dialect variant of recrue "a levy, a recruit," literally "new growth," from Old French recreu (12c.), past participle of recreistre "grow or increase again," from re- "again" (see re-) + creistre "to grow," from Latin 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]. The French word also is the source of Dutch recruut, German Recrut, Swedish rekryt.