employ

[ em-ploi ]

/ ɛmˈplɔɪ /

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.

Nearby words

emplace, emplacement, emplane, emplectite, emplore, employ, employable, employe, employee, employee association, employer

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 forms

de-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

British Dictionary definitions for reemploy

employ

/ (ɪmˈplɔɪ) /

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 reemploy

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.