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Employ vs Ply - What's the difference?

employ | ply | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between employ and ply

is that employ is the state of being an employee; employment while ply is a layer of material.

As verbs the difference between employ and ply

is that employ is to hire (somebody for work or a job) while ply is to bend; to fold.

employ

English

Alternative forms

* (l) (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • The state of being an employee; employment.
    • ''The school district has six thousand teachers in its employ .

    Synonyms

    * employment * hire

    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

    Derived terms

    * employee * employer * employment

    External links

    * * *

    ply

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl), from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (plies)
  • A layer of material.
  • A strand that, twisted together with other strands, makes up yarn or rope.
  • (colloquial) Plywood.
  • (artificial intelligence, game theory) In two-player sequential games, a "half-turn", or one move made by one of the players.
    • He proposed to build Deep Purple, a super-computer capable of 24-ply look-ahead for chess.
  • State, condition.
  • * 1749 , John Cleland, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure , Penguin 1985, p. 66:
    • You may be sure, in the ply I was now taking, I had no objection to the proposal, and was rather a-tiptoe for its accomplishment.
    Derived terms
    * (l)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) , see Etymololgy 1.

    Verb

  • to .
  • * L'Estrange
    • The willow plied , and gave way to the gust.
  • to .
    • Derived terms
    * plier (agent noun) * pliers

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl)

    Verb

  • To ly.
    • He plied his trade as carpenter for forty-three years.
  • * Waller
    • Their bloody task, unwearied, still they ply .
  • To work diligently.
  • * Milton
    • Ere half these authors be read (which will soon be with plying hard and daily).
  • * Addison
    • He was forced to ply in the streets as a porter.
  • To vigorously.
    • He plied his ax with bloody results.
  • To ly.
    • ply the seven seas
    A steamer plies between certain ports.
  • To in offering.
  • * 1929 , , Chapter VII, Section vi
    • Esther began to cry. But when the fire had been lit specially to warm her chilled limbs and Adela had plied her with hot negus she began to feel rather a heroine.
    She plied him with liquor.
  • To press upon; to urge importunately.
    • to ply one with questions, with solicitations, or with drink
  • * Shakespeare
    • He plies the duke at morning and at night.
  • To employ diligently; to use steadily.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Go ply thy needle; meddle not.
  • (nautical) To work to windward; to beat.