hireling
UK /ˈhaɪ.ə.lɪŋ/ · US /ˈhaɪɹˌlɪŋ/ noun
Forms hirelings
- noun (usually derogatory) An employee who is hired, often to perform unpleasant tasks with little independence.
- noun (usually derogatory) Someone who does a job purely for money, rather than out of interest in the work itself.
- noun A horse for hire.
- noun (obsolete) A prostitute.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English hirlyng, from Old English hȳrling (“hireling, employee”), from Proto-West Germanic *hūʀijuling. Cognate with West Frisian hierling, Dutch huurling (“hireling, mercenary”), German Low German Hüürling,
German Heuerling. By surface analysis, hire + -ling.
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.
- adjective Serving for hire or wages; venal; mercenary. "Hireling mourners." Dryden.
- adjective 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
Etymology [AS. h. See Hire, n., and -ling.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “hireling”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details