SG Heritage Dictionary

Employ [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. That which engages the mind, or occupies the time and labor of a person; business; object of study or industry; employment.

2. Present to grasp, and future still to find,

3. The whole employ of body and of mind.

4. Occupation, as art, mystery, trade, profession.

5. Public office; agency; service for another.

Employ [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. To occupy the time, attention and labor of; to keep busy, or at work; to use. We employ our hands in labor; we employ our heads or faculties in study or thought; the attention is employed, when the mind is fixed or occupied upon an object; we employ time, when we devote it to an object. A portion of time should be daily employed in reading the scriptures, meditation and prayer; a great portion of life is employed to little profit or to very bad purposes.

2. To use as an instrument or means. We employ pens in writing, and arithmetic in keeping accounts. We employ medicines in curing diseases.

3. To use as materials in forming any thing. We employ timber, stones or bricks, in building; we employ wool, linen and cotton, in making cloth.

4. To engage in one's service; to use as an agent or substitute in transacting business; to commission and entrust with the management of one's affairs. The president employed an envoy to negotiate a treaty. Kings and States employ embassadors at foreign courts.

5. To occupy; to use; to apply or devote to an object; to pass in business; as, to employ time; to employ an hour, a day or a week; to employ one's life.

6. To employ one's self, is to apply or devote one's time and attention; to busy one's self.

Employ [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

That which engages or occupies a person; fixed or regular service or business; employment.

Employ [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. To inclose; to infold.

2. 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.

3. To occupy; as, to employ time in study.

4. To have or keep at work; to give employment or occupation to; to intrust with some duty or behest; as, to employ a hundred workmen; to employ an envoy.

Employable [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1828

That may be employed; capable of being used; fit or proper for use.

Employable [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Capable of being employed; capable of being used; fit or proper for use.

Employe [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

One employed by another; a clerk or workman in the service of an employer.

Employed [Participle passive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Occupied; fixed or engaged; applied in business; used in agency.

Employed [Imperfect tense and past participle] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Employ

Employee [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

One employed by another.

Employer [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

One who employs; one who uses; one who engages or keeps in service.

Employer [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

One who employs another; as, an employer of workmen.

Employing [Participle present tense] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Occupying; using; keeping busy.

Employing [Present participle and verbal noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Employ

Employment [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. The act of employing or using.

2. Occupation; business; that which engages the head or hands; as agricultural employments; mechanical employments. Men, whose employment is to make sport and amusement for others, are always despised.

3. Office; public business or trust; agency or service for another or for the public. The secretary of the treasury has a laborious and responsible employment He is in the employment of government.

Employment [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. The act of employing or using; also, the state of being employed.

2. That which engages or occupies; that which consumes time or attention; office or post of business; service; as, agricultural employments; mechanical employments; public employments; in the employment of government.

Business Roget’s Thesaurus §625

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

V. 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, phr, workaday, "a business with an income at its heels", professional, amoto quaeramus seria ludo, official, par negotiis neque supra, 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 &c

Use Roget’s Thesaurus §677

N. use, employ, employment, exercise, exercitation, application, appliance, adhibition, disposal, consumption, agency, usufruct, usefulness, benefit, recourse, resort, avail, utilization, service, wear, usage

V. 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

Adj. in use, used, well-worn, well-trodden, useful, subservient

Subjection Roget’s Thesaurus §749

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

V. be subject, be at the mercy of, lie at the mercy of, depend upon, lean upon, hang upon, fall a prey to, fall under, play second fiddle, be a mere machine, be a puppet, be a football, not dare to say one's soul is his own, drag a chain, serve, obey, submit, break in, tame, subject, subjugate, master, tread down, tread under foot, weigh down, drag at one's chariot wheels, reduce to subjection, reduce to slavery, enthrall, inthrall, bethrall, enslave, lead captive, take into custody, rule, drive into a corner, hold at the sword's point, keep under, hold in bondage, hold in leading strings, hold in swaddling clothes

Adj. 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

Adv. under

Phr. "slaves - in a land of light and law"

Commission Roget’s Thesaurus §755

N. commission, delegation, # consignment, assignment, procuration, deputation, legation, mission, embassy, agency, agentship, power of attorney, clerkship, surrogacy, errand, charge, brevet, diploma, exequatur, permit, appointment, nomination, designation, return, charter, ordination, installation, inauguration, investiture, swearing-in, accession, coronation, enthronement, vicegerency, regency, regentship, viceroy, consignee, deputy, agent, delegate, consignee

V. 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

Adj. commissioned

Adv. per procurationem

King James Bible KJV Bible

Berean Standard Bible BSB Bible

6 KJV and 1 BSB verses contain “Employ”

Deuteronomy 20:19

When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man’s life) to employ them in the siege:

When you lay siege to a city for an extended time while fighting against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an axe to them, because you can eat their fruit. You must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field human, that you should besiege them?

1 Chronicles 9:33

And these are the singers, chief of the fathers of the Levites, who remaining in the chambers were free: for they were employed in that work day and night.

Those who were musicians, the heads of Levite families, stayed in the temple chambers and were exempt from other duties because they were on duty day and night.

Ezra 10:15

Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.

(Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah, supported by Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite, opposed this plan.)

Ezekiel 39:14

And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.

And men will be employed to continually pass through the land to cleanse it by burying the invaders who remain on the ground. At the end of the seven months they will begin their search.

Wisdom of Solomon 15:8

And employing his labours lewdly, he maketh a vain god of the same clay, even he which a little before was made of earth himself, and within a little while after returneth to the same, out when his life which was lent him shall be demanded.

2 Maccabees 4:20

This money then, in regard of the sender, was appointed to Hercules’ sacrifice; but because of the bearers thereof, it was employed to the making of gallies.