Hireling vs Flunkey - What's the difference?
hireling | flunkey | Related terms |
(usually, pejorative) an employee who is hired, often to perform unpleasant tasks with little independence
* 1848: William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair
(usually, pejorative) someone who does a job purely for money, rather than out of interest in the work itself
* 1605: Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning
An underling; a contemptuous name for a liveried servant or a footman; servant, retainer – a person working in the service of another (especially in the household)
* 1929 , Baldwyn Dyke Acland, Filibuster , Chapter 2
One who is obsequious or cringing; a snob.
One easily deceived in buying stocks; an inexperienced and unwary jobber. [Cant, U.S.]
As nouns the difference between hireling and flunkey
is that hireling is an employee who is hired, often to perform unpleasant tasks with little independence while flunkey is an underling; a contemptuous name for a liveried servant or a footman; servant, retainer – a person working in the service of another (especially in the household.hireling
English
Noun
(en noun)- When my poor James was in the smallpox, did I allow any hireling to nurse him?
- ... it may be truly affirmed that no kind of men love business for itself but those that are learned; for other persons love it for profit, as a hireling that loves the work for the wages;
Synonyms
* flunky * lackey * mercenaryflunkey
English
Alternative forms
* flunkee * flunkyNoun
(en-noun)- “One marble hall, with staircase complete, one to one ' flunkey , gloves to another, and there was the fourth poor blighter looking like an orphan at a Mothers' Meeting. …"