Dictionary

hireling en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈhaɪɹˌlɪŋ/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈhaɪ.ə.lɪŋ/ (UK)

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.

Meanings

1. (derogatory, usually) An employee who is hired, often to perform unpleasant tasks with little independence.
   • When my poor James was in the small-pox, did I allow any hireling to nurse him? 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Miss Crawley at Nurse”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 167:
   • Is there not an appointed time to man vpon earth? are not his dayes alſo like the dayes of an hireling? 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 7:1, column 2:
2. (derogatory, usually) Someone who does a job purely for money, rather than out of interest in the work itself.
   • […]it may bee truely affirmed, that no kinde of men loue buſineſſe for it ſelfe, but thoſe that are learned; for other perſons loue it for profite; as an hireling that loues the worke for the wages; 1605, Francis Bacon, “The First Booke”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], →OCLC, folio 10, recto:
   • These vain bickerings / Are spawn'd in courts by base intrigues and baser / Hirelings, who live by lies on good men's lives. 1821, Lord Byron, “Sardanapalus”, in Sardanapalus, a Tragedy; The Two Foscari, a Tragedy; Cain, a Mystery, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 56:
3. A horse for hire.
   • 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:
4. (obsolete) A prostitute.

Forms

Relateds

underling

Synonyms

lackey · mercenary · flunky

Translations (10)

fi palkkarenki (someone who does a job purely for money) · da lejesvend (someone hired to perform unpleasant tasks) · fi renki (someone hired to perform unpleasant tasks) · uk на́ймит (someone who does a job purely for money) · got 𐌰𐍃𐌽𐌴𐌹𐍃 (someone hired to perform unpleasant tasks) · bg наемник (someone who does a job purely for money) · ga amhas (someone hired to perform unpleasant tasks) · uk на́ймит (someone hired to perform unpleasant tasks) · grc ἐπίκουρος (someone who does a job purely for money) · grc μισθωτός (someone hired to perform unpleasant tasks)