employ

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To pay someone to work for you

   Our company employs hundreds of people.

2. 2
   verb

   To use something for a particular purpose

   The burglar employed a crowbar to force the door open.

3. 3
   noun

   The state of working for someone or being employed

   The school district has six thousand teachers in its employ.

From late Middle English emploien, imploien, emplien (“to apply to a specific purpose”), from Anglo-Norman emploier, Old French emploiier (“to entangle, fabricate, to make use of”), ultimately from Latin implicāre (“to infold, entangle, involve, engage”), from in- (“in”) + plicāre (“to fold”). Doublet of imply and implicate.

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