hire

n. [ OE. hire, hure, AS. h&ymacr_;r; akin to D. huur, G. heuer, Dan. hyre, Sw. hyra. ] 1. The price, reward, or compensation paid, or contracted to be paid, for the temporary use of a thing or a place, for personal service, or for labor; wages; rent; pay. [ 1913 Webster ]

The laborer is worthy of his hire. Luke x. 7. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law.) A bailment by which the use of a thing, or the services and labor of a person, are contracted for at a certain price or reward. Story.

Syn. -- Wages; salary; stipend; allowance; pay. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Hired p. pr. & vb. n. Hiring. ] [ OE. hiren, huren, AS. h&ymacr_;rian; akin to D. huren, G. heuern, Dan. hyre, Sw. hyra. See Hire, n. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To procure (any chattel or estate) from another person, for temporary use, for a compensation or equivalent; to purchase the use or enjoyment of for a limited time; as, to hire a farm for a year; to hire money. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To engage or purchase the service, labor, or interest of (any one) for a specific purpose, by payment of wages; as, to hire a servant, an agent, or an advocate. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To grant the temporary use of, for compensation; to engage to give the service of, for a price; to let; to lease; -- now usually with out, and often reflexively; as, he has hired out his horse, or his time. [ 1913 Webster ]

They . . . have hired out themselves for bread. 1 Sam. ii. 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

pron. [ Obs. ] See Here, pron. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ or, more fully, or }. (Law) A contract (more fully called contract of hire with an option of purchase) in which a person hires goods for a specified period and at a fixed rent, with the added condition that if he shall retain the goods for the full period and pay all the installments of rent as they become due the contract shall determine and the title vest absolutely in him, and that if he chooses he may at any time during the term surrender the goods and be quit of any liability for future installments upon the contract. In the United States such a contract is generally treated as a conditional sale, and the term hire purchase is also sometimes applied to a contract in which the hirer is not free to avoid future liability by surrender of the goods. In England, however, if the hirer does not have this right the contract is a sale. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

adj. performing work for pay; as, hired hands. used in contrast with the owner or family members who work in an enterprise [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Serving for hire or wages; venal; mercenary. “Hireling mourners.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. h&ymacr_;reling. See Hire, n., and -ling. ] One who is hired, or who serves for wages; esp., one whose motive and interest in serving another are wholly gainful; a mercenary. “Lewd hirelings.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]