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Owe vs Hire - What's the difference?

owe | hire |

As a verb owe

is to be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.

As a noun hire is

.

owe

English

Verb

(ow)
  • To be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.
  • *1854 , Dickens, Hard Times , Chapter 7:
  • *:He inherited a fair fortune from his uncle, but owed it all before he came into it, and spent it twice over immediately afterwards.
  • To have debt, to be in debt.
  • Usage notes

    * The original past tense form was ought, which during Middle English began to be used with indefinite signification and has become a distinct verb. The original past participle has become the adjective own.

    Anagrams

    *

    hire

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Payment for the temporary use of something.
  • The sign offered pedalos on hire .
  • (obsolete) Reward, payment.
  • * Bible, Luke x. 7
  • The labourer is worthy of his hire .
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.viii:
  • I will him reaue of armes, the victors hire , / And of that shield, more worthy of good knight; / For why should a dead dog be deckt in armour bright?
  • The state of being hired, or having a job; employment.
  • ''When my grandfather retired, he had over twenty mechanics in his hire .
  • A person who has been hired, especially in a cohort.
  • We pair up each of our new hires''' with one of our original '''hires .

    Synonyms

    * (state of being hired) employment, employ

    Verb

    (hir)
  • (label) To obtain the services of in return for fixed payment.
  • * , chapter=16
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=“[…] She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.”}}
  • (label) To employ; to obtain the services of (a person) in exchange for remuneration; to give someone a job.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=10 , passage=The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.}}
  • (label) To exchange the services of for remuneration.
  • (label) To accomplish by paying for services.
  • (label) To accept employment.
  • Antonyms

    * (to employ) fire

    Derived terms

    * hired gun * hired hand

    Anagrams

    * * ----