Verb

(en verb)

To hire (somebody for work or a job).

* 1668 July 3rd, , “Thomas Rue contra'' Andrew Hou?toun” in ''The Deci?ions of the Lords of Council & Se??ion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 547

Andrew Hou?toun'' and ''Adam Mu?het'', being Tack?men of the Excize, did Imploy ''Thomas Rue'' to be their Collector, and gave him a Sallary of 30. pound ''Sterling for a year.

*{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1

, passage=Charles had not been employed above six months at Darracott Place, but he was not such a whopstraw as to make the least noise in the performance of his duties when his lordship was out of humour.}}

To use (somebody for a job, or something for a task).

* 1598 , (William Shakespeare), (Othello) , Act 1, Scene iii:

Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you / against the general enemy Ottoman.

* (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)

This is a day in which the thoughtsought to be employed on serious subjects.

*{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Charles T. Ambrose

, title= Alzheimer’s Disease , volume=101, issue=3, page=200, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.}}

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Gary Younge)

, volume=188, issue=26, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution , passage=The dispatches […] also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies. Having lectured the Arab world about democracy for years, its collusion in suppressing freedom was undeniable as protesters were met by weaponry and tear gas made in the west, employed by a military trained by westerners.}}

To make busy.

* 1598 , (William Shakespeare), (The Merchant of Venice) , Act 2, Scene viii:

Let it not enter in your mind of love: / Be merry, and employ your chiefest thoughts / to courtship and such fair ostents of love / as shall conveniently become you there

Verb

(en verb)

To put in vigorous action.

To make use of, to apply, especially of something non-material.

*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)

, chapter=19 citation , passage=Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.}}

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=18 April, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport

, title= Chelsea 1-0 Barcelona , passage=Di Matteo clearly saw Drogba's power as a potential threat to a Barcelona defence stripped of Gerard Pique - but he barely caught sight of goal in a first 45 minutes in which the Catalans exerted their technical superiority.}}