Adjacent Words

Employ definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EMPLOY', v.t. [L. plico.]
1. To occupy the time, attention and labor of; to keep busy, or at work; to use. We employ our hands in labor; we employ our heads or faculties in study or thought; the attention is employed, when the mind is fixed or occupied upon an object; we employ time, when we devote it to an object. A portion of time should be daily employed in reading the scriptures, meditation and prayer; a great portion of life is employed to little profit or to very bad purposes.
2. To use as an instrument or means. We employ pens in writing, and arithmetic in keeping accounts. We employ medicines in curing diseases.
3. To use as materials in forming any thing. We employ timber, stones or bricks, in building; we employ wool, linen and cotton, in making cloth.
4. To engage in one's service; to use as an agent or substitute in transacting business; to commission and entrust with the management of one's affairs. The president employed an envoy to negotiate a treaty. Kings and States employ embassadors at foreign courts.
5. To occupy; to use; to apply or devote to an object; to pass in business; as, to employ time; to employ an hour, a day or a week; to employ one's life.
To employ one's self, is to apply or devote one's time and attention; to busy one's self.
EMPLOY', n. That which engages the mind, or occupies the time and labor of a person; business; object of study or industry; employment.
Present to grasp, and future still to find,
The whole employ of body and of mind.
1. Occupation, as art, mystery, trade, profession.
2. Public office; agency; service for another.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the state of being employed or having a job; "they are looking for employment"; "he was in the employ of the city" [syn: employment, employ] [ant: unemployment] v
1: put into service; make work or employ for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose; "use your head!"; "we only use Spanish at home"; "I can't use this tool"; "Apply a magnetic field here"; "This thinking was applied to many projects"; "How do you utilize this tool?"; "I apply this rule to get good results"; "use the plastic bags to store the food"; "He doesn't know how to use a computer" [syn: use, utilize, utilise, apply, employ]
2: engage or hire for work; "They hired two new secretaries in the department"; "How many people has she employed?" [syn: hire, engage, employ] [ant: can, dismiss, displace, fire, force out, give notice, give the axe, give the sack, sack, send away, terminate]

Merriam Webster's

I. transitive verb Etymology: Middle English emploien, from Anglo-French empleier, emploier, emplier to entangle, apply, make use of, from Latin implicare to enfold, involve, from in- + plicare to fold — more at ply Date: 15th century 1. a. to make use of (someone or something inactive) <employ a pen for sketching> b. to use (as time) advantageously <a job that employed her skills> c. (1) to use or engage the services of (2) to provide with a job that pays wages or a salary <a company that employs fifty> 2. to devote to or direct toward a particular activity or person <employed all her energies to help the poor> Synonyms: see use • employer noun II. noun Date: 1666 1. a. use, purpose b. occupation, job 2. the state of being employed <in the city's employ>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.tr. 1 use the services of (a person) in return for payment; keep (a person) in one's service. 2 (often foll. by for, in, on) use (a thing, time, energy, etc.) esp. to good effect. 3 (often foll. by in) keep (a person) occupied. --n. the state of being employed, esp. for wages. Phrases and idioms: in the employ of employed by. Derivatives: employable adj. employability n. employer n. Etymology: ME f. OF employer ult. f. L implicari be involved f. implicare enfold: see IMPLICATE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Employ Em*ploy", n. [Cf. F. emploi.] That which engages or occupies a person; fixed or regular service or business; employment. The whole employ of body and of mind. --Pope. In one's employ, in one's service.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Employ Em*ploy", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Employed; p. pr. & vb. n. Employing.] [F. employer, fr. L. implicare to fold into, infold, involve, implicate, engage; in + plicare to fold. See Ply, and cf. Imply, Implicate.] 1. To inclose; to infold. [Obs.] --Chaucer. 2. To use; to have in service; to cause to be engaged in doing something; -- often followed by in, about, on, or upon, and sometimes by to; as: (a) To make use of, as an instrument, a means, a material, etc., for a specific purpose; to apply; as, to employ the pen in writing, bricks in building, words and phrases in speaking; to employ the mind; to employ one's energies. This is a day in which the thoughts . . . ought to be employed on serious subjects. --Addison. (b) To occupy; as, to employ time in study. (c) To have or keep at work; to give employment or occupation to; to intrust with some duty or behest; as, to employ a hundred workmen; to employ an envoy. Jonathan . . . and Jahaziah . . . were employed about this matter. --Ezra x. 15. Thy vineyard must employ the sturdy steer To turn the glebe. --Dryden. To employ one's self, to apply or devote one's time and attention; to busy one's self. Syn: To use; busy; apply; exercise; occupy; engross; engage. See Use.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(employs, employing, employed) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If a person or company employs you, they pay you to work for them. The company employs 18 staff... More than 3,000 local workers are employed in the tourism industry... The government counted 27,600,000 employed persons in West Germany. VERB: V n, be V-ed in/as n, V-ed, also V n to-inf 2. If you employ certain methods, materials, or expressions, you use them. The tactics the police are now to employ are definitely uncompromising. ...the approaches and methods employed in the study. = use VERB: V n, V-ed, also V n as n 3. If your time is employed in doing something, you are using the time you have to do that thing. Your time could be usefully employed in attending to professional matters... VERB: usu passive, be V-ed in -ing/n 4. If you are in the employ of someone or something, you work for them. (FORMAL) Others hinted that he was in the employ of the KGB... PHRASE

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Busy, engage, engross, exercise, occupy. 2. Use, apply, make use of. 3. Intrust with an agency, enlist in one's service, give employment to. II. n. (Poetical.) See employment.

Moby Thesaurus

active use, activities, activity, add, affair, affairs, appliance, application, apply, attend to business, attendance, avail, bag, bespeak, bestow, book, brief, business, busy, carry on, commerce, commission, concern, concernment, conduct, consecrate to, consume, consumption, contract for, dedicate to, devote, do, do with, employment, engage, engage in, engross, enlist, enterprise, exercise, exert, exertion, expend, exploit, follow, function, give over to, give to, go in for, good use, handle, hard usage, hard use, hire, ill use, interest, involve, labor, lookout, make use of, manage, manipulate, matter, mind the store, ministration, ministry, misuse, monopolize, obtain, occupation, occupy, operate, pass, pass the time, peonage, play, ply, practice, preengage, procure, prosecute, pursue, put forth, put in, put on, put out, recruit, reserve, retain, rough usage, secure, serfdom, service, servitium, servitorship, servitude, sign, sign on, sign up, sign up for, slavery, specialize in, spend, spend the time, tackle, take into employment, take on, take to, take up, tendance, thing, undertake, undertaking, usage, use, use up, using up, utilize, wage, while, while away, wield, wile, work, work at, wrong use