▪ I. hire, n.
(haɪə(r))
Forms: 1 h{yacu}r, h{iacu}r, 3–4 huire, 3–5 huyre, hure, 4 hir, hijre, 4–5 here, 4–7 hyre, 5 huyr, hyr, 6 hyire, 6–7 hier, hyer, 3– hire.
[OE. h{yacu}r str. fem., corresp. to OFris. hêre (WFris. hiere), OLG. *hûria (MLG., MDu. hûre, LG. hüre, hür, Du. huur; Ger. heuer, Da. hyre, Sw. hyra, all from LG.):—OTeut. type *hûrjâ-, not known in OHG., ON., or Gothic.]
1. Payment contracted to be made for the temporary use of anything. (In OE., esp. for money lent; usury, interest.) to be or have on hire, to let († put, set) to hire, i.e. at the service of another in consideration of payment made by him.
| c 1000 ælfric Deut. xxiii. 19 Ne læne þine breþer nan þinᵹ to hire. ― Lev. xxv. 37 Ne syle þu þin feoh to hyre. c 1000 Ecgberht's Penit. iii. Proem. a 1300 Cursor M. 6778 Elles noght..I lete to hire for ani mede. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 507 He sette nat his benefice to hyre [v.rr. hire, huyre]. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iii. v. 53 Longe tyme haue ye putte youre tonges to hyre, ye witnessers of falshede. 1483 Cath. Angl. 186/2 To let to Hire, locare. 1495–7 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 186 Payed to Richard Yoksale of Portesmouth ffor the hyre of hys bote. 1497 Ibid. 250 Ffreight & hyre of a crayer. 1526 Tindale Mark xii. 1 A certayne man planted a vyne yarde..and lett it out to hyre to husbandemen. 1583 Hollyband Campo di Fior 93 Of him that in..streate keepeth horses to hier. 1587 F. James in Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 199 Bote hyre from Lambeth. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. i. 13 The hire is pretty reasonable both for the Vessels, and the Men. 1717 tr. Frezier's Voy. 109 Paying him the King's Duty, and the Hire of the Mill. 1870 W. M. Baker New Timothy 161 (Cent.) To keep one's conscience, too, on hire, as that drunken Isham..at the livery-stable does a horse. Mod. Bicycles on hire. |
2. Payment contracted to be made for personal service; wages.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 208 Etholden oðres hure, ouer his rihte terme, nis hit strong reflac? c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 285/242 He scholde him paye is huyre. 13.. Sir Beues (A.) 2972 And of þe meistri icham sure, Ȝif he wile ȝilde min hure. 1382 Wyclif Luke x. 7 Forsothe a workman is worthi his hyre. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 283 a/2 They..sayd they wold brynge hym thyder without ony freyght or huyr. 1502 Priv. Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830) 76 For the scole hyer of the same Edward..every quarter viij d. 1583 Hollyband Campo di Fior 61 What aske you for your hyer?.. I will contente myself with a small hier. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 277 Their testimony against preaching for hire. 1882 Ouida Maremma I. 4 They had other thoughts besides those of their hire and wages. |
3. fig. Reward, recompense, payment (for work or service of any kind).
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 428 Hore hure schal beon þe eche blisse of heouene. a 1300 Cursor M. 23192 Sathanas..sal casten be..in a stincand stang o fire; þar sal be yolden him his hire. 1382 Wyclif Rom. vi. 22 Treuli the hyris of synne, deeth. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 30 Our lorde god shal ones rewarde them their hyre. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xxxii. 10 Schort plesour, lang displesour; Repentence is the hyre. 1608 D. T. Ess. Pol. & Mor. 2 b, Some..that thinke the very disturbance of things established, a sufficient hyre to set them on worke. 1841 James Brigand iv, And make her hand the hire of this Savoyard. |
4. The action of hiring or fact of being hired.
| 1615 J. Stephens Satyr. Ess. 189 The dispersed hire of acquaintance to extoll things indifferent. 1835 Lytton Rienzi i. iv, Ay, it is the duty of thy hire. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. xiv. 357 A savage hire,—and the wages he receives are as dispiteous. Mod. To arrange for the hire of a horse. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as hire-car, hire-carriage, hire-payer, hire-wage; hire-system, a system by which a hired article becomes, by virtue of a stipulated number of payments, the property of the hirer; so hire-purchase; used esp. attrib.; also as v., and ˈhire-purchasing ppl. a.; cf. H.P. (s.v. H III). Also hiregang, -man, -woman.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 186/2 An Hire payer, mercedarius. 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke xvi. 134 b, To digge in the field for hire wages from daie to daye. 1895 Brit. Warehouseman Feb. 30/2 The plaintiff let a piano to one Sullivan under an ordinary hire-purchase agreement. 1896 Daily News 24 Jan. 7/2 Mr. Moore..was the inventor of the now widely adopted hire-purchase system. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 11 Jan. 2/1 Could not the hire-purchase system be worked? 1901 Kipling Kim v. 122 The woman, she kept kabarri shop near where the hire-carriages are. 1909 Chambers's Jrnl. July 421/1 Not hire-purchased, you see; I'm not to be gulled by silly advertisements. No. I found my own shop and made my own choice. 1909 Installation News iii. 134/1 The hire and hire-purchase of cooking, heating, and other apparatus. 1923 ‘Bartimeus’ Seaways 36 If it wasn't for my daughter Annie bein' musical an' wantin' a pianner on the 'ire purchase, I wouldn't stop aboard 'er another night. 1930 Economist 25 Jan. 215/2 (Advt.), Bank of England and Hire Purchase. 1947 E. Afr. Ann. 1946–7 28/2 (Advt.), Largest fleet of hire cars in Kenya. 1960 Author Summer 64/2 All up-to-date readers are hire-purchasing electronic computers to read their library books for them. 1960 Guardian 9 May 6/7 The true-born, hire-purchasing Briton. 1964 R. Braddon Year Angry Rabbit xi. 94 It was her hire car that rammed the car taking Dorfmann and Welch to the deportation ship. 1966 Times (Canada Suppl.) 28 Feb. p. ii, Planes and hire-cars whisk you to the magic. 1972 Mod. Law Rev. XXXV. i. 38 All three hire-purchase agreements were illegal. |
▸ U.S. A person who is hired; an employee.
| 1954 Industr. & Labor Relations Rev. 7 576/2 New hires must be asked to join [the union] and the old employees must be persuaded to retain their membership. 1975 Business Week (Nexis) 24 Nov. 85 Three-quarters [of companies] will reimburse present executives for such selling costs as broker's commission, legal expenses, title and survey fees. One-fourth will reimburse new hires. 1990 Harvard Business Rev. Mar.–Apr. 113/1 Finding first-rate hires is only one piece of the effort. 2001 Time 30 July y4 Search firms say they have their work cut out for them finding hires with the right brand and degree of aggressiveness. |
▪ II. hire, v.
(haɪə(r))
Forms: 1 h{yacu}rian, h{yacu}ran, 3 hure(n, 3–4 huyre, 4–7 hyre, 6 hiare, hyer, 6–7 hier, 4– hire.
[OE. h{yacu}rian, corresp. to OFris. hêra, OLG. *hûrian (MLG., MDu. hûren, LG. hüren, Du. huren, Ger. heuern, Da. hyre, Sw. hyra, from LG.), f. the n.: see hire n.]
1. a. trans. To engage the service of (a person) for a stipulated reward; to employ for wages. Phr. hire and fire [fire v.1 16]; also as n. and attrib.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 72 Seðe..wolde hyrian wyrhtan into his winᵹearde. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xx. 7 Us nan mann ne hyrode [c 1160 Hatton G. herde]. a 1225 Ancr. R. 126 Vorte huren mid ham, ase me deð mid garsume þeo þet wel vihteð. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 80 Þe bisshop..Hired ilk a man. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 241/2 Hyryn, conduco. 1535 Coverdale Prov. xxvi. 10 Who so hyreth a foole, hyreth soch one as wyl take no hede. 1570 B. Googe Pop. Kingd. iii. 43 b, They also hier folkes to say the Psalters speedily. 1663 Cowley Verses & Ess., Ode on Harvey iii, As if he hir'd the workers by the day. 1742 Pitt Sp. Ho. Com. 10 Dec. in Anecd. & Sp. Earl Chatham (1797) I. v. 116 They have already been informed there was no necessity for hiring auxiliary troops. 1872 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 182 Chinamen are in the country and can be hired cheaply. 1958 Listener 23 Oct. 632/2 Men who can be hired and fired according to the current level of business. 1963 Times 6 Feb. 6/3 ‘Hire and fire’ is no longer associated with the construction industries. Ibid. 24 Apr. 7/4 Sir Donald said a five-year building programme should be planned in the public sector to ensure continuity of work and stop the ‘hire and fire’ attitude. 1970 Sci. Amer. Mar. 35/3 The inability to hire and fire in order to vary the work force with fluctuations in the business cycle. 1973 Advocate-News (Barbados) 20 Feb. 4/2 The locals are in the ‘hire and fire’ positions. |
b. transf. To engage or induce to do something by a payment or reward; to bribe.
| c 1400 Gamelyn 786 He was fast aboute bothe day and other, For to hyre the quest to hangen his brother. 1529 More Dyaloge iii. Wks. 246/1 A man could not hyre a Jewe to sit down vpon his byble of the olde testament. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows iii. xciii. 357 Cullin..was hired by English runagates in the Low Countries to kill the Queene. 1697 Dryden Virg. æneid ii. 42 Thymœtes first ('tis doubtful whether hired, Or so the Trojan destiny required) Moved that the ramparts might be broken down. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 159 A popish priest was hired with the promise of the mitre of Waterford to preach at Saint James's against the Act of Settlement. |
2. To procure the temporary use of (any thing) for stipulated payment.
| c 1205 Lay. 30441 Þa scipen heo gunnen hure mid ahten swiðe deore. c 1290 Beket 1161 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 139 [He] huyrde him a mere, For an Englichs peni, with an haltre, þis holi man to bere. c 1450 Bk. Curtasye 375 in Babees Bk. 310 For cariage þe porter hors schalle hyre. 1583 Hollyband Campo di Fior 327 He had hired a house in Colme⁓streate. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iv. i. 95 A ship you sent mee too, to hier waftage. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Abbé Conti 31 July, I hired an ass..that I might go some miles into the country. 1863 M. E. Braddon Eleanor's Vict. (1878) I. iii. 24 He hired a villa by the Lake of Como. |
3. a. To grant the temporary use of for stipulated payment; to let out on hire; to lease.
| 1382 Wyclif Mark xii. 1 A man plauntide a vyneȝerd..and hirede it to erthe tilieris. 1484 Caxton Fables of Alfonce (1889) 3 [He] demaunded of the poure yong man that he wold hyre to hym a parte of his hows. 1589 G. Fletcher in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 80 That no man should hier owt horse or boat to anie Englishman. 1611 Bible 1 Sam. ii. 5 They that were full, haue hired out themselues for bread. 1662 Wood Life (O.H.S.) I. 462 Having skill in gardning and manuring [he] hired himselfe to gent. there for that imployment. 1721 Duxbury Rec. (1893) 238 That the said money should be hired out at five pounds per cent. to such persons as shall give sufficient security for the same. 1842 Tennyson Dora 36 He left his father's house, And hired himself to work within the fields. |
b. intr. (for refl.) to hire out, to engage oneself as a servant for payment. Chiefly N. Amer.
| 1776 S. Curwen Jrnl. & Lett. (1864) 74 The inhabitants [of Sidmouth, Devon, England] chiefly hired out to the Newfoundland traders. 1833 C. A. Davis Lett. J. Downing (1834) 35, I had hired out here this summer. 1856 Olmsted Slave States 83 Poor white girls never hired out to do servants' work. 1884 Harper's Mag. May 882/1 They hire out to..farmers. 1969 in Halpert & Story Christmas Mumming in Newfoundland 26 They hired out as fishing servants. |
▪ III. hire
early form of her pron.