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definitions

recruit

[ri-kroot]
See more synonyms for recruit on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a newly enlisted or drafted member of the armed forces.
  2. a new member of a group, organization, or the like.
  3. a fresh supply of something.
verb (used with object)
  1. to enlist (a person) for service in one of the armed forces.
  2. to raise (a force) by enlistment.
  3. to strengthen or supply (an armed force) with new members.
  4. to furnish or replenish with a fresh supply; renew.
  5. to renew or restore (the health, strength, etc.).
  6. to attempt to acquire the services of (a person) for an employer: She recruits executives for all the top companies.
  7. to attempt to enroll or enlist (a member, affiliate, student, or the like): a campaign to recruit new club members.
  8. to seek to enroll (an athlete) at a school or college, often with an offer of an athletic scholarship.
verb (used without object)
  1. to enlist persons for service in one of the armed forces.
  2. to engage in finding and attracting employees, new members, students, athletes, etc.
  3. to recover health, strength, etc.
  4. to gain new supplies of anything lost or wasted.

Origin of recruit

1635–45; < French, stem of recruter, derivative of recrue new growth, noun use of feminine past participle of recroître (re- re- + croître < Latin crēscere to grow; cf. crescent)
Related formsre·cruit·a·ble, adjectivere·cruit·er, nounun·re·cruit·a·ble, adjectiveun·re·cruit·ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for recruit

rookie, soldier, sailor, newcomer, trainee, volunteer, draftee, enroll, engage, raise, enlist, draft, mobilize, improve, select, convert, tenderfoot, helper, beginner, proselyte

Examples from the Web for recruit

Contemporary Examples of recruit

Historical Examples of recruit

  • The air is so pure, too, that people come there to recruit their health.

    Fruitfulness

    Emile Zola

  • Oh, didn't I kiss your uncle Pascal when he brought you here to recruit your health!'

  • She did what seemed easiest—she took him down to recruit at Howards End.

    Howards End

    E. M. Forster

  • He had been sick and had come on board in order to recruit his health.

  • These exercises correct the form of the body and transform the recruit into a soldier.

British Dictionary definitions for recruit

recruit

verb
    1. to enlist (men) for military service
    2. to raise or strengthen (an army, navy, etc) by enlistment
  2. (tr) to enrol or obtain (members, support, etc)
  3. to furnish or be furnished with a fresh supply; renew
  4. archaic to recover (health, strength, spirits, etc)
noun
  1. a newly joined member of a military service
  2. any new member or supporter
Derived Formsrecruitable, adjectiverecruiter, nounrecruitment, noun

Word Origin for recruit

C17: from French recrute literally: new growth, from recroître to grow again, from Latin recrēscere from re- + crēscere to grow
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 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.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper