hire English · revision 5536

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1000|origins=gmw-pro *hūrju}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /haɪə/, /ˈhaɪ.ə/, US /ˈhaɪ.ɚ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The noun is [[inh|enm|hire]], [[inh|ang|hȳr|t=wages, payment for use]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[gmw-pro|*hūrju]].^(Hoad 1986) The verb is Middle English hiren, from Old English hȳrian “to pay for service, employ for wages”, probably formed from the noun.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) Related words are Old Frisian hēre “lease, rent, wages”, Old Saxon hūria, Middle Dutch hūre (Dutch huur) and German Heuer “wages”.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The further origin is uncertain.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The noun, payment for the temporary use of a thing, and the verb, to engage a person's services for wages, are both first recorded about 1000.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Wages for personal service are recorded as a noun sense from before 1225, and the figurative sense “reward, recompense” at the same time.^(OED 1989) To get the use of a thing for payment is from about 1205, and to let out a thing on hire from 1382.^(OED 1989) The reflexive “to agree to work for wages” is from the mid-13th century,^(Etymonline) and the intransitive ''hire out'', to take service, is from 1776 and chiefly North American.^(OED 1989) The noun sense “the action of hiring” is from 1615.^(OED 1989) ''Hireling'' was rare in Old English and was formed afresh in the 16th century.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1000 – payment for use; to employ for wages.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1205 – to get the use of a thing for payment.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1382 – to let out on hire.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1615 – the action of hiring.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1776 – ''hire out'', to take service.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[employ]] a person for [[wage|alt=wages]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To get the temporary use of something for payment; to [[rent]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(often with out)'' To let someone use something, or one's own services, for payment.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The act of hiring, or the state of being hired: ''cars for hire''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Payment for work or for the use of something.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # ''(North America)'' A person who has recently been hired.^(COED 2004)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[hirable]]

+ * [[hirer]]

+ * [[hiree]]

+ * [[hireling]]

+ * [[dehire]]

+ * [[outhire]]

+ * [[rehire]]

+ * [[unhired]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Hiring a thing, such as a car, for temporary use is mainly British; in American English one usually rents it.^(COED 2004)^(Collins 2023) In Scotland and northern England dialect a hire was also a hiring fair, where farm servants were engaged.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}