employ: Meaning and Definition of

em•ploy

1. to hire or engage the services of (a person or persons); provide employment for; have or keep in one's service: This factory employs thousands of people.
2. to keep busy or at work; engage the attentions of: He employs himself by reading after work.
3. to make use of (an instrument, means, etc.); use; apply: to employ a hammer to drive a nail.
4. to occupy or devote (time, energies, etc.): I employ my spare time in reading. I employ all my energies in writing.

1. employment; service: to be in someone's employ.