Hire

Pronunciation

IPA: /ËˆhaÉªÉ™(É¹)/
Rhymes: -aÉªÉ™(r)
Homophones: higher

Origin

From Middle English, from Old English hÈ³r ("employment for wages, pay for service"), from Proto-Germanic *hÅ«zijÅ ("hire"), from Proto-Indo-European *kÅ«s- ("price, hire"). Cognate with West Frisian hier ("hire"), Dutch huur ("hire"), Low German HÃ¼re ("hire"), German Heuer ("hire"), Danish hyre ("hire").

Full definition of hire

Noun

hire

(plural hires)

Payment for the temporary use of something.The sign offered pedalos on hire.
(obsolete) Reward, payment.

Bible, Luke x. 7The labourer is worthy of his hire.
1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.viii:I will him reaue of armes, the victors hire,
And of that shield, more worthy of good knight;
For why should a dead dog be deckt in armour bright?

The state of being hired, or having a job; employment.''When my grandfather retired, he had over twenty mechanics in his hire.
A person who has been hired, especially in a cohort.We pair up each of our new hires with one of our original hires.

Synonyms

(state of being hired) employment, employ

Verb

(transitive) To obtain the services of in return for fixed payment.

1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 16, â€œâ€¦ She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovialâ€”thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.â€

We hired a car for two weeks because ours had broken down.
(transitive) To employ; to obtain the services of (a person) in exchange for remuneration; to give someone a job.
The company had problems when it tried to hire more skilled workers.
(transitive) To exchange the services of for remuneration.
They hired themselves out as day laborers. They hired out their basement for Inauguration week.
(transitive) To accomplish by paying for services.
After waiting two years for her husband to finish the tiling, she decided to hire it done.
(intransitive) To accept employment.
They hired out as day laborers.