• enPR:hīr
  • (Received Pronunciation)IPA^(key):/haɪə/
  • (General American)IPA^(key):/haɪɹ/
  • (Indic,rhotic)IPA^(key):/haj(a)ɾ/
  • (Indic,non-rhotic)IPA^(key):/haja/

• enPR:hīʹər
  • (Received Pronunciation)IPA^(key):/ˈhaɪ.ə/
  • (General American)IPA^(key):/ˈhaɪ.ɚ/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Homophone:higher(some speakers)
• Rhymes:-aɪə(ɹ)

FromMiddle Englishhire,hyre,here,hure, fromOld Englishhȳr(“employment for wages; pay for service; interest on money lent”), fromProto-West Germanic*hūʀiju(“payment”), from the verb*hūʀijan, fromProto-Germanic*hūzijaną, fromProto-Indo-European*kewHs- or*kweHs-. CompareHittite𒆪𒊭𒀭(kuššan-,“fee, pay, wages, price”).

Cognate withWest Frisianhier(“hire”),Dutchhuur(“lease, rental”),German Low GermanHüür(“lease, rental”).

hire (countable anduncountable,pluralhires)

1. (countable) Aperson who has beenhired, especially in acohort.

   We pair up each of our newhires with one of our originalhires.

   • 2024 February 21, Nick Brodrick, “Inclusion and development for all”, inRAIL, number1003, page62:

     Employment statistics, the other key indicator of Diversity & Inclusion performance, shows that almost 30% of new Southeasternhires are women.

2. (uncountable) Thestate of being hired, or having ajob;employment.

   Synonym:employ

   When my grandfather retired, he had over twenty mechanics in hishire.

3. (uncountable)Payment for thetemporaryuse of something.

   The sign offered pedalos onhire.

4. (uncountable,obsolete)Reward.
   • 1590,Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, inThe Faerie Queene. […], London:[…] [John Wolfe] forWilliam Ponsonbie,→OCLC:

     I vvill him reaue of armes, the victorshire, / And of that ſhield, more vvorthy of good knight; / For vvhy ſhould a dead dog be deckt in armour bright?

   • c.1598–1600 (date written),William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act II, scene iii], lines682–683:

     I have five hundred crovvns, / The thriftyhire I ſav'd under your father[…]

   • 1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London:[…]Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,Luke10:7:

     The labourer is worthy of hishire.

   • 1619, Samuell Hieron, “The Worth of the Water of Life.Dauids Longing, and Dauids Loue. The Good Fight. [II. Tim[othy] 4. 7.]”, inThe Sermons of Master Samuell Hieron, […], London:[…] Iohn Beale [andJohn Legatt printer to theUniuersitie of Cambridge for Thomas Man, Ioyce Macham, Cantrell Legge, and Simon Waterson], published1620,→OCLC,pages222–223:

     I haue ſeene a pardon giuen to a man vpon the gallovves, but vvho ſo emboldeneth himſelfe thereuypon, perhaps the rope may be hishire: it is not good to put it vpon the Pſalme ofMiſerere, and the neck-verſe, for ſometime he prooues no clarke.

FromMiddle Englishhiren,hyren, fromOld Englishhȳrian(“to hire”), from the noun (see above). CompareWest Frisianhiere(“to rent, lease”),Dutchhuren(“to rent, lease”),Low Germanhüren(“to rent”),Danishhyre(“to hire”).

EclipsedMiddle Englishsouden(“to hire, employ, enlist”), borrowed fromOld Frenchsouder,soudre,souldre(“to take into employ, pay”); seeEnglishsold(“salary, military pay”).

hire (third-person singular simple presenthires,present participlehiring,simple past and past participlehired)

1. (transitive, chieflyUK) Toobtain theservices of in return forfixedpayment.

   Synonym:rent

   Wehired a car for two weeks because ours had broken down.

   • 1918,W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, inThe Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.:The Bobbs-Merrill Company,→OCLC:

     “[…] 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 thehired fly, about anything.”

2. (transitive, chieflyUK) To occupy premises in exchange for rent.

   Synonym:rent

   • 1854 August 9,Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Economy”, inWalden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.:Ticknor and Fields,→OCLC:

     I do not mean to insist here on the disadvantage ofhiring compared with owning, but it is evident that the savage owns his shelter because it costs so little, while the civilized manhires his commonly because he cannot afford to own it; nor can he, in the long run, any better afford tohire.

3. (transitive) To employ; to obtain the services of (a person) in exchange forremuneration; to give someone ajob.

   The company had problems when it tried tohire more skilled workers.

   • 1897 December (indicated as1898),Winston Churchill, chapter X, inThe Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.:The Macmillan Company; London:Macmillan & Co., Ltd.,→OCLC:

     The skipper Mr. Cooke hadhired 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.

4. (transitive) To exchange the services of for remuneration.

   Theyhired themselves out as day laborers.  Theyhired out their basement for Inauguration week.

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

   After waiting two years for her husband to finish the tiling, she decided tohire it done.

6. (intransitive) To accept employment.

   Theyhired out as day laborers.

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

   Theyhired a milkshake.

• (antonym(s) of“to employ”):fire

• rent

• ReHi,heir,rehi

FromAkanhyire(“white clay”).

hire

1. whiteclay

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

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

hire

1. genitive ofhi,your

hire

1. Rōmaji transcription ofひれ

hire

1. Contraction ofhidāer.

FromOld Englishhire(“her”), fromProto-West Germanic*heʀā,*hiʀā, fromProto-Germanic*hezōz, genitive feminine singular of*hiz(“this”), fromProto-Indo-European*ḱe(“here; this”).

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

hire (nominative pronounsche)

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.
   • 1430, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale.”, inCanterbury Tales:

     Here begynnyt the wyf of bathehir tale.

     (pleaseadd an English translation of this quotation)

• his

• English:her
• Scots:her
• Yola:her

hire (nominativesche)

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

• hires

• “hir,pron.(1).”, inMED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007, retrieved10 May 2018.

FromOld Englishhire(“her”), fromProto-West Germanic*heʀē,*hiʀē, fromProto-Germanic*hezōi, dative feminine singular of*hiz(“this”), fromProto-Indo-European*ḱe(“here; this”).

hire (nominativesche)

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.

• English:her
• Yola:her

• “hir(e),pron.(2).”, inMED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007, retrieved10 June 2018.

FromOld Englishhȳr, fromProto-West Germanic*hūʀiju. The final vowel is generalised from the Old English oblique cases.

• hier,hijre,hir,hyer,hyr,hyre
• hoyre,huire,hure,huyre,hyure(West Midlands)
• here(East Anglia)

• IPA^(key):/ˈhiːr(ə)/,(East Anglia, Kent)/ˈheːr(ə)/,(West Midlands)/ˈhyːr(ə)/

hire (pluralhires)

1. One'ssalary;wages.

   Synonyms:mede,wage

2. Areward;recompense.

   Synonym:mede

3. One'sdeserts; what onedeserves.
   • c.1395,John Wycliffe,John Purvey [et al.], transl.,Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[1], publishedc.1410,Petre ·ii· 2:15,page113v, column 1; republished asWycliffe's translation of the New Testament,Lichfield: Bill Endres,2010:

     […]þat foꝛſaken þe riȝt weie .· ⁊ erriden ſuynge þe weie of balaam of boſoꝛ / which louyde þehire of wickidneſſe

     […] who've abandoned the right way and strayed, following the way of Balaam of Bosor, who loved thefruits of wrongdoing.

4. Apayment; acharge.

• hiren
• hire man
• hirlyng

• English:hire
• Scots:hire

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

hire

1. Alternative form ofhere(“army”)

hire

1. Alternative form ofhiren(“to hire”)

hire

1. neutersingular ofhiren

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

• IPA^(key):/ˈxi.re/,[ˈhi.re]

hire

1. genitive/dative ofhēo

• 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

• hiāre

hire

1. her

hire

1. genitive/dative ofhiū;her

• North Frisian:hör
• Saterland Frisian:hier
• West Frisian:har