employ

present singular third person employs · participle present employing · participle past employed · past employed · alternative obsolete imploy

1. To retain (someone) as an employee.

   Our company employs hundreds of people.

   3 more examples

   Andrew Houſtoun and Adam Muſhet, being Tackſmen of the Excize, did Imploy Thomas Rue to be their Collector, and gave him a Sallary of 30. pound Sterling for a year.

   1668 July 3rd, James Dalrymple, “Thomas Rue contra Andrew Houſtoun” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 547

   Charles had not been employed above six months at Darracott Place, but he was not such a whopstraw as to make the least noise in the performance of his duties when his lordship was out of humour.

   1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax

   The site—which was established in its current form in 2009—employs 60 people and says it gets 12 million visitors a month.

   2012 May 24, Farhad Manjoo, “BOMBSHELL: Business Insider Kinda Brilliant”, in Slate, archived from the original on 05 Jun 2023

2. To provide (someone) with a new job; to hire.

   Yesterday our local garage employed a new mechanic.

   1 more example

   The management, who were close personal friends, had just employed a new chef.

   2004, Jay Rayner, The Apologist, London: Atlantic Books, →ISBN, page 54

3. To use (someone or something) for a job or task.

   The burglar employed a jemmy to get in.

   5 more examples

   Valiant Othello, we muſt straight employ you, / Againſt the generall Enemy Ottoman.

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 313, column 1

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

   1715 April 9 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 29. Tuesday, March 30. [1715.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC

   As to eleemoſynary corporations, by the dotation the founder and his heirs are of common right the legal viſitors, to ſee that that property is rightly employed, which would otherwiſe have deſcended to the viſitor himſelf: […]

   1765, William Blackstone, “Of Corporations”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book I (Of the Rights of Persons), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 469

   Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.

   2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200

   Having lectured the Arab world about democracy for years, its collusion in suppressing freedom was undeniable as protesters were met by weaponry and tear gas made in the west, employed by a military trained by westerners.

   2013 June 2, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at the heart of the trial of Bradley Manning”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 May 2023

   Synonyms: apply, use, utilize

4. To make busy; to preoccupy.

   I heard the woods, and distant waters, roar; / Or heard them not, as happy as a Boy: / The pleasant season did my heart employ:

   1815 [1802], William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence

   1 more example

   Let it not enter in your minde of loue: / Be merry, and imploy your chiefeſt thoughts / To courtſhip, and ſuch faire oſtents of loue / As ſhall conueniently become you there;

   c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene viii], page 171, column 2

   Synonyms: occupy, busy

plural employs · alternative obsolete imploy

1. The state of being an employee; employment.

   The school district has six thousand teachers in its employ.

   2 more examples

   If Siamese in the employ of British subjects offend against the laws of their country,

   1856, “Treaty signed April 18, 1855; ratified April 5, 1856”, in Treaty of friendship and commerce between Great Britain and Siam, Bangkok: J. H. Chandler, page 7

   “And so you see, sir,” said I, “there is something to be said upon my side; and this gambling is a very poor employ for gentlefolks. But I am still waiting your opinion.”

   1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC

2. archaicAn occupation.

   Still he wrote on. He was too much engrossed in his own charmed employ not to be insensible for a time to all external influences: he might suffer afterwards, but now his mind was his kingdom.

   1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A London Life”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 162

3. obsoleteThe act of employing someone or making use of something; employment.

   Notwithstanding the employ of general and local bleeding, blisters, &c., the patient died on the fourth day after entrance.

   1833, R. J. Bertin, translated by Charles W. Chauncy, Treatise on the Diseases of the Heart, and Great Vessels, Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, page 24