Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

hire

Syllabification: (hire)
Pronunciation: /hīr/

Translate hire | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of hire

verb

[with object]
  • 1employ (someone) for wages:management hired and fired labor in line with demand
  • employ for a short time to do a particular job:don’t hire a babysitter who’s under 16 (as adjective hired)a hired assassin
  • (hire oneself out) make oneself available for temporary employment:he hired himself out as a laborer
  • 2chiefly British obtain the temporary use of (something) for an agreed payment; rent:she had to hire a dress for the wedding
  • (hire something out) grant the temporary use of something for an agreed payment.

noun

  • 1the action of hiring someone or something.
  • 2a person who is hired; an employee:new hires go through six months of training

Phrases

for (or on) hire

available to be hired.

Derivatives

hireable

(also hirable) adjective

hirer

noun

Origin:

Old English hȳrian 'employ (someone) for wages', hȳr 'payment under contract for the use of something'; related to Dutch huren (verb), huur (noun)

hire in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of hire in the British & World English dictionary