hireling
English
Etymology
From Middle English hirling, hyrling, from Old English hȳrling (“hireling, employee”), from Proto-Germanic *hūrijōlingaz (“hireling”) (from *hūrijō), equivalent to hire + -ling. Cognate with West Frisian hierling, Dutch huurling (“hireling, mercenary”), German Low German Hüürling, German Heuerling.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈhaɪɹˌlɪŋ/
Noun
hireling (plural hirelings)
- (usually derogatory) An employee who is hired, often to perform unpleasant tasks with little independence.
- 1611, King James Version, Job 7:1:
- Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
- 1848: William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 19:
- When my poor James was in the smallpox, did I allow any hireling to nurse him?
- 1611, King James Version, Job 7:1:
- (usually derogatory) Someone who does a job purely for money, rather than out of interest in the work itself.
- 1605: Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning
- ... 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;
- 1821, Lord Byron, Sardanapalus, Act II, sc. 1:
- These vain bickerings
- Are spawn'd in courts by base intrigues and baser
- Hirelings, who live by lies on good men's lives.
- 1605: Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning
- A horse for hire.
- 1934, Evelyn Waugh, A Handful of Dust, Chapter 3, Section 5:
- In the afternoon they went to a neighbouring livery stables to look for hirellings.
- 1934, Evelyn Waugh, A Handful of Dust, Chapter 3, Section 5:
- (obsolete) A prostitute.
Translations
someone hired to perform unpleasant tasks
someone who does a job purely for money
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See also
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