enlist, v.
(ɛnˈlɪst)
Also 8 inlist.
[f. en-1 + list n. or v.
If from the n., possibly suggested by Du. inlijsten to inscribe on a list or register. So far as our quots. show, the vb. list (now usually written 'list as if aphetic) occurs considerably earlier than enlist, and may possibly be its source. The form inlist, now wholly disused, was in 18th c. much the more frequent.]
1. trans. To enrol on the ‘list’ of a military body; to engage as a soldier.
| 1698–9 E. Ludlow Mem. III. 99 That the like number was enlisted [ed. 1751 inlisted] under my command in the western parts of England. 1755 Johnson, List, to enlist [the word is not under En- or In-]. 1762 Gentl. Mag. 1 The Dutch..were very busy inlisting men. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. xiii. 272 The bravest of their youth he enlisted among his land or sea forces. 1858 Fonblanque How We are Governed 99 The number of soldiers to be employed, and the terms upon which they shall be enlisted. |
2. transf. and fig. To engage (a person) for domestic service (humorous); to secure (a person or his services) as an aid in any enterprise; to range (persons) in a particular class, or (feelings, etc.) in support of a cause; to make (natural forces, science, etc.) available for a special purpose.
| 1753 Smollett Ct. Fathom (1784) 90/1 He likewise inlisted another footman and valet de chambre into his service. 1781 Cowper Conversation 205 A graver fact, enlisted on your side, May furnish illustration well applied. 1791 Boswell Johnson an. 1738 He was..inlisted by Mr. Cave as a regular coadjutor in his magazine. 1826 Q. Rev. XXXIV. 117 It was clever to inlist on his side those venerable prejudices. 1837 Disraeli Venetia iv. ix. (1871) 259 So he resolved to enlist the aunt as his friend. 1842 W. Morgan in Abdy Water-cure (1843) 218 The continued use of such liquors..enlists the moderate man into the ranks of the drunkard. 1867 Smiles Huguenots Eng. ii. (1880) 31 The Reformers early enlisted music in their service. 1884 Manch. Exam. 4 June 5/1 To enlist public interest in the wretched lot of the Dorsetshire labourer. |
3. refl. Chiefly in sense 1. Now rare: superseded by 4.
| 1750 Johnson Rambl. No. 19 ¶4 That class in which he should inlist himself. 1774 Chesterfield Lett. I. 72 The people..refused to enlist themselves in military service. 1783 Watson Philip III (1839) 57 [He] persuaded many of his countrymen to enlist themselves under his banners. |
4. intr. for refl. To have one's name inscribed in a list of recruits; to engage for military service. Also transf. and fig.
| 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. vii. 137 His victory was rewarded by..a permission to inlist in the troops. 1790 Beatson Nav. & Mil. Mem. I. 274 Part of them inlisted with the Corsicans. 1793 Burke Conduct of Minority Wks. VII. 265 The former class..would be ready to enlist in the faction of the enemy. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge xxxi, A carter in a smock-frock seemed wavering and disposed to enlist. 1865 H. Phillips Amer. Paper Curr. II. 100 Specie was also proposed as a bounty to induce men to enlist. |
Hence enˈlisted ppl. a., enrolled for military service. enˈlister, one who enlists men for military service; a recruiting officer. enˈlisting vbl. n., the action of the vb. enlist; also attrib.
| 1724 Briton 118 The enlisted Men were, for the most part, Irish Papists. 1882 Hinsdale Garfield & Educ. 431 The majority of the twenty-five thousand enlisted men in the army are native-born citizens. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. VIII. xix. ix. 272 The whole German Reich was deluged with secret Prussian Enlisters. 1807 J. Marshall Const. Opin. iv. (1839) 50 The mere enlisting of men without assembling them is not levying war. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 443 The enlisting money and other expenses. |