employ

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: em=ploy

CIDE DICTIONARY

employ, v. t. [F. employer, fr. L. implicare to fold into, infold, involve, implicate, engage; in + plicare to fold. See Ply, and cf. Imply, Implicate.].

•  To inclose; to infold.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "This is a day in which the thoughts . . . ought to be employed on serious subjects."

  "Jonathan . . . and Jahaziah . . . were employed about this matter."  [1913 Webster]

  "Thy vineyard must employ the sturdy steer
  To turn the glebe."  [1913 Webster]

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.

employ, n. [Cf. F. emploi.].

 That which engages or occupies a person; fixed or regular service or business; employment.  [1913 Webster]
"The whole employ of body and of mind."  [1913 Webster]

In one's employ, in one's service.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

employ, 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.

Idiom

in the employ of employed by.

Derivative

employable adj. employability n. employer n.

Etymology

ME f. OF employer ult. f. L implicari be involved f. implicare enfold: see IMPLICATE

THESAURUS

employ

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

ROGET THESAURUS

employ

Business

N business, occupation, employment, pursuit, what one is doing, what one is about, affair, concern, matter, case, matter in hand, irons in the fire, thing to do, agendum, task, work, job, chore, errand, commission, mission, charge, care, duty, part, role, cue, province, function, lookout, department, capacity, sphere, orb, field, line, walk, walk of life, beat, round, routine, race, career, office, place, post, chargeship, incumbency, living, situation, berth, employ, service, engagement, undertaking, vocation, calling, profession, cloth, faculty, industry, art, industrial arts, craft, mystery, handicraft, trade, exercise, work, avocation, press of business, businesslike, workaday, professional, official, functional, busy, on hand, in hand, in one's hands, afoot, on foot, on the anvil, going on, acting, in the course of business, all in one's day's work, professionally Adj, a business with an income at its heels, amoto quaeramus seria ludo, par negotiis neque supra.

VB pass one's time in, employ one's time in, spend one's time in, employ oneself in, employ oneself upon, occupy oneself with, concern oneself with, make it one's business, undertake, enter a profession, betake oneself to, turn one's hand to, have to do with, office, place, post, chargeship, incumbency, living, situation, berth, employ, service, engagement, undertaking, drive a trade, carry on a trade, do a trade, transact a trade, carry on business, do business, transact business, keep a shop, ply one's task, ply one's trade, labor in one's vocation, pursue the even tenor of one's way, attend to business, attend to one's work, officiate, serve, act, act one's part, play one's part, do duty, serve the office of, discharge the office of, perform the office of, perform the duties of, perform the functions of, hold an office, fill an office, fill a place, fill a situation, hold a portfolio, hold a place, hold a situation, be about, be doing, be engaged in, be employed in, be occupied with, be at work on, have one's hands in, have in hand, have on one's hands, have on one's shoulders, bear the burden, have one's hands full, be in the hands of, be on the stocks, be on the anvil, pass through one's hands, Adj, businesslike, workaday, professional, official, functional, busy, on hand, in hand, in one's hands, afoot, on foot, on the anvil, going on, acting, Adv, in the course of business, all in one's day's work, professionally.

Use

N use, employ, employment, exercise, exercitation, application, appliance, adhibition, disposal, consumption, agency, usufruct, usefulness, benefit, recourse, resort, avail, utilization, service, wear, usage, in use, used, well-worn, well-trodden, useful, subservient.

VB use, make use of, employ, put to use, put in action, put in operation, put in practice, set in motion, set to work, ply, work, wield, handle, manipulate, play, play off, exert, exercise, practice, avail oneself of, profit by, resort to, have recourse to, recur to, take betake oneself to, take up with, take advantage of, lay one's hands on, try, render useful, mold, turn to account, turn to use, convert to use, utilize, work up, call into play, bring into play, put into requisition, call forth, draw forth, press into service, enlist into the service, bring to bear upon, devote, dedicate, consecrate, apply, adhibit, dispose of, make a handle of, make a cat's-paw of, fall back upon, make a shift with, make the most of, make the best of, use up, swallow up, consume, absorb, expend, tax, task, wear, put to task.

Subjection

N subjection, dependence, dependency, subordination, thrall, thralldom, thraldom, enthrallment, subjugation, bondage, serfdom, feudalism, feudality, vassalage, villenage, slavery, enslavement, involuntary servitude, conquest, service, servitude, servitorship, tendence, employ, tutelage, clientship, liability, constraint, oppression, yoke, submission, obedience, subject, dependent, subordinate, feudal, feudatory, in subjection to, under control, in leading strings, in harness, subjected, enslaved, constrained, downtrodden, overborne, overwhelmed, under the lash, on the hip, led by the nose, henpecked, the puppet of, the sport of, the plaything of, under one's orders, under one's command, under one's thumb, a slave to, at the mercy of, in the power of, in the hands of, in the clutches of, at the feet of, at one's beck and call, liable, parasitical, stipendiary, under, slaves - in a land of light and law.

Commission

VB commission, delegate, depute, consign, assign, charge, intrust, entrust, commit, commit to the hands of, authorize, put in commission, accredit, engage, hire, bespeak, appoint, name, nominate, return, ordain, install, induct, inaugurate, swear in, invest, crown, enroll, enlist, give power of attorney to, employ, empower, set over, place over, send out, be commissioned, be accredited, represent, stand for, stand in the stead of, stand in the place of, stand in the shoes of.