employ

Definitions

em- (a form of in-, "in") + ploy (the French-worn form of plic, "fold") = "fold someone in." To employ someone is to fold them into your enterprise — bring them inside the work. The second sense, "to employ a method," is the same: you fold a tool or tactic into your plan and put it to use. -ploy hides the fold, but it's the same root as apply and deploy.

Common Collocations

• 1.employ staff雇用员工
• 2.employ a method采用方法
• 3.employ tactics运用策略
• 4.be in someone's employ受雇于某人

Example Sentences

• 1.

  The factory employs over two thousand workers.

• 2.

  The teacher employs games to keep children interested.

• 3.

  She has been in his employ for ten years.

Easily Confused

employ vs hire — both mean to pay someone to work, but hire is the act (we hired her last week), while employ describes the ongoing relationship (the firm employs 500 people). You hire once; you employ continuously. employ also has the extra sense "to use a method," which hire never has.