# employ

Pronunciation: US say "im-PLOY" /ɪmˈplɔɪ/; UK

## Verb

1. To keep someone on as a paid employee.
   - Simple: To keep someone working for you as a paid worker.
   - _Several local firms employ skilled engineers for long-term projects._
   - _The university has employed her as a research fellow since 2019._
2. To use someone or something for a particular job or task.
   - Simple: To use a person or thing to do a job.
   - _Detectives employ a range of techniques to gather evidence._
   - _The chef employed an unusual method to cook the fish._
3. To keep someone busy; to occupy their attention.
   - Simple: To keep someone busy with something.
   - _These tasks employ every spare moment of his day._
   - _Her thoughts were employed with plans for the journey._

## Noun

4. The condition of being an employee; the state of having paid work under someone.
   - Simple: The state of having a job working for someone.
   - _For decades he remained in the employ of the same shipping firm._
   - _Several gardeners were once in the employ of the great estate._

## Verb

5. To give someone a new job; to take someone on as a hire. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To give someone a new job.
   - _New ventures often employ workers straight out of college._
   - _The shipyard employed two hundred men when it first opened._

## Noun

6. A person's occupation or regular line of work. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A job or the work that someone does.
   - _Weaving had been the chief employ of the village for generations._
   - _He sought some honest employ to support his family._
7. The act of putting a person to work or making use of a thing. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The act of using a person or thing for a task.
   - _The employ of hired laborers shortened the time the harvest took._
   - _Through the careful employ of every resource, the colony survived the winter._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–3, 5** — From late Middle English emploien ("to apply to a specific purpose"), from Anglo-Norman emploier and Old French emploiier ("to entangle, to make use of"), ultimately from Latin implicāre ("to infold, entangle, engage"), from in- ("in") plus plicāre ("to fold"). It is a doublet of imply and implicate.
**Meanings 4, 6–7** — Borrowed from French emploi ("job, employment"), a noun formed from the verb employer ("to put to use, to employ"), first attested in the late 17th century.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/employ (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).