hire

English Online Dictionary. What means hire‎? What does hire mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: hīr, hīʹər, IPA^(key): /haɪə/, /ˈhaɪ.ə/
• (General American) enPR: hīr, hīʹər, IPA^(key): /haɪɹ/, /ˈhaɪ.ɚ/
• Homophone: higher
• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English hire, hyre, here, hure, from Old English hȳr (“employment for wages; pay for service; interest on money lent”), from Proto-West Germanic *hūʀiju (“payment”), from the verb *hūʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *hūzijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *kewHs-. Compare Hittite 𒆪𒊭𒀭 (kuššan-, “fee, pay, wages, price”).

Cognate with West Frisian hier (“hire”), Dutch huur (“lease, rental”), German Low German Hüür (“lease, rental”).

Noun

hire (countable and uncountable, plural hires)

1. (countable) A person who has been hired, especially in a cohort.
2. (uncountable) The state of being hired, or having a job; employment.

   Synonym: employ

3. (uncountable) Payment for the temporary use of something.

4. (uncountable, obsolete) Reward.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English hiren, hyren, from Old English hȳrian (“to hire”), from the noun (see above). Compare West Frisian hiere (“to rent, lease”), Dutch huren (“to rent, lease”), Low German hüren (“to rent”), Danish hyre (“to hire”).

Eclipsed Middle English souden (“to hire, employ, enlist”), borrowed from Old French souder, soudre, souldre (“to take into employ, pay”); see English sold (“salary, military pay”).

Verb

hire (third-person singular simple present hires, present participle hiring, simple past and past participle hired)

1. (transitive, chiefly UK) To obtain the services of in return for fixed payment.

   Synonym: rent
2. (transitive, chiefly UK) To occupy premises in exchange for rent.

   Synonym: rent
3. (transitive) To employ; to obtain the services of (a person) in exchange for remuneration; to give someone a job.
4. (transitive) To exchange the services of for remuneration.

5. (transitive, chiefly UK) To accomplish by paying for services.

6. (intransitive) To accept employment.

7. (transitive) (neologism) (in the Jobs-to-be-Done Theory) To buy something in order for it to perform a function, to do a job

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “to employ”): fire

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• rent

Anagrams

• ReHi, heir, rehi

Abron

Etymology

From Akan hyire (“white clay”).

Noun

hire

1. white clay

References

• Trutenau, Languages of the Akan Area: Papers in Western Kwa Linguistics (1976)

Basque

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Southern) /iɾe/, [i.ɾe̞]
• IPA^(key): (Northern) /hiɾe/, [ɦi.ɾe̞]

Pronoun

hire

1. genitive of hi, your

Japanese

Romanization

hire

1. Rōmaji transcription of ひれ

Middle Dutch

Contraction

hire

1. Contraction of hi dāer.

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English hire (“her”), from Proto-West Germanic *heʀā, *hiʀā, from Proto-Germanic *hezōz, genitive feminine singular of *hiz (“this”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe (“here; this”).

Alternative forms

• hir, hyre, hyr, ire, ir, here, her, ere, er, heyre, heore, hare, hure, hur, hurre, huere

Determiner

hire (nominative pronoun sche)

2. Third-person singular feminine genitive determiner: her, of her.
3. Used in place of the possessive suffix -es to denote possession by an antecedent noun.

Synonyms

• his

Descendants

• English: her
• Scots: her
• Yola: her

See also

Pronoun

hire (nominative sche)

2. Third-person singular feminine genitive pronoun: hers.

Synonyms

• hires

References

• “hir, pron.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 10 May 2018.

Etymology 2

From Old English hire (“her”), from Proto-West Germanic *heʀē, *hiʀē, from Proto-Germanic *hezōi, dative feminine singular of *hiz (“this”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe (“here; this”).

Pronoun

hire (nominative sche)

2. Third-person singular feminine pronoun indicating a grammatical object: her.
3. (reflexive) herself.
4. Third-person singular neuter pronoun indicating a grammatical object: it.

Descendants

• English: her
• Yola: her

See also

References

• “hir(e), pron.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 10 June 2018.

Etymology 3

From Old English hȳr, from Proto-West Germanic *hūʀiju. The final vowel is generalised from the Old English oblique cases.

Alternative forms

• here, hier, hijre, hir, hoyre, huire, hure, huyre, hyer, hyr, hyre, hyure

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhiːr(ə)/
• (dialectal) IPA^(key): /ˈheːr(ə)/, /ˈhuːr(ə)/, /ˈhyːr(ə)/

Noun

hire (plural hires)

1. One's salary; wages.

   Synonyms: mede, wage

2. A reward; recompense.

   Synonym: mede

3. One's deserts; what one deserves.
4. A payment; a charge.

Related terms

• hiren
• hire man
• hirlyng

Descendants

• English: hire
• Scots: hire

References

• “hīr(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 4

Noun

hire

1. Alternative form of here (“army”)

Etymology 5

Verb

hire

1. Alternative form of hiren (“to hire”)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

hire

1. neuter singular of hiren

Old English

Alternative forms

• hyre, hiere, heore, hiore, hure, hir, hiræ, hira, hyræ, hyra, hyr, hieræ, heora

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxi.re/, [ˈhi.re]

Pronoun

hire

1. genitive/dative of hēo

Descendants

• Middle English: hire, hir, hyre, hyr, ire, ir, here, her, ere, er, heyre, heore, hare, hure, hur, hurre, huere
  • English: her
  • Scots: her
  • Yola: her