employern.
/ᵻmˈplɔɪə/, /ɛmˈplɔɪə/, U.S. /ᵻmˈplɔɪ(j)ər/, /ɛmˈplɔɪ(j)ər/, /ᵻmˈplɔjər/, /ɛmˈplɔjər/ 1. A person who makes use of something.
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1595 M. Mosse Arraignm. Usurie vi. 167 Others, who shall shew themselues better imployers, and disposers of his blessinges.
1617 S. Collins Epphata to F. T. ii. ix. 265 Lucilla, that factious dame, and employer of her wealth to support mutinies against the Church of God.
?1679 C. Jelinger Usury stated Overthrown xl. 61 The Lender, or putter out of his Money loseth when the Receiver and Employer of it loseth.
a1714 F. Brokesby Life H. Dodwell (1715) xxiii. 288 Not so much as Presbyters, but as Employers of the spiritual Gifts entrusted to 'em.
1859 R. Armstrong High Speed Steam Navigation 9 To..all employers of mechanical appliances, the advantages of defining perfection would be abundant.
1880 N. Amer. Rev. Mar. 254 The employers of this argument know the safety of using it.
1920 Philos. Rev. 29 205 Employers of this method often select more or less arbitrarily some primordium..from which they attempt to trace the evolution of all other religious phenomena.
1992 S. Mackey Passion & Politics i. i. 31 The Bedouin call themselves the ‘sons of Arabic’, the most celebrated employers of language in the Arab world.
2. A person who employs another to undertake a task, carry out work, etc.; esp. an individual or organization that pays a person to perform a service, particularly on a regular or contractual basis.
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society > occupation and work > worker > employer > [noun]
mastereOE
employer1600
baas1625
governor1783
old baas1882
1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing v. ii. 30 Troilus the first imploier of pandars. View more context for this quotation
1683 Laws of Jamaica 9 Whosoever shall Employ any Free Person without a Certificate from the last Employer, of the Performance of his or their last Bargain or Contract, shall forfeit Ten pounds.
1741 S. Richardson Pamela IV. xv. 103 To present her Imployer with Bills for 500l.
1780 E. Burke Speech Oeconomical Reformation 43 Making it the interest of the contractor to exert..skill for..his employers.
1856 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. i. 21 Agricultural labourers lived..in the houses of their employers.
1878 W. S. Jevons Polit. Econ. 64 Employers are regarded as tyrants.
1920 H. Dougharty Pension, Endowment, Life Assurance xi. 52 The insurance is effected by the employer on the lives of his employees.
1977 J. Raban in New Rev. Apr. 32/2 He clacked out letters to potential employers on my mother's old portable Olivetti.
2005 Independent 4 Nov. (Arts & Bks. Review section) 25/2 The potteries were the largest employers of women in north Staffordshire.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
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1872 Evening Gaz. (Middlebrough) 8 Apr. 3/2 The Board could not agree, as the employer representatives decided that they could not admit their terms.
1887 Polit. Sci. Q. 2 71 The employer groups and combinations are further complicated by the centralization there of capital.
1890 Atchison (Kansas) Champion 4 May 1/5 The league will be formed covering Germany with a net work of employer associations.
1924 Internat. Jrnl. Ethics 34 282 We definitely disapprove of sweatshops, of the twelve-hour day, of czarist employer policies, and the like.
1936 B. Schrieke Alien Americans iv. 96 There are..the interest groups, such as the trade unions and the employer organizations.
1951 C. A. Myers Industr. Relations Sweden viii. 112 Centralization has its dangers, of course, and these are recognized by the more thoughtful men in the Swedish labor and employer federations.
1980 Rotarian Sept. 24/1 Each hike in a country's minimum wage slashes employer demand for young, inexperienced workers.
2011 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 22 Mar. a13 Come May 2012, when the minimum wage reaches $10.25, surely the employer groups will recognize the added spending in the economy means businesses will also benefit.
C2. Instrumental, as employer-based, employer-provided, employer-sponsored, etc.
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1899 Daily News 24 Nov. 3/2 Occupying an employer-owned cottage, with no other available house in case the tenant for any offence loses work and home.
1934 Southern Econ. Jrnl. 1 6 There are forms of ‘free income’ in the South, especially in the form of employer-provided facilities in mill villages.
1946 S. Kennedy Southern Exposure 292 A general strike ensued, and employer-sponsored opposition to the union grew into open terrorism.
1958 J. C. Vadakin Family Allowances vii. 149 Then, through a system of employer-financed allowances, an additional payment would be made to the worker on behalf of each of his dependents.
1974 C. T. Strohmenger & H. L. Henderson in W. W. Tennyson Vocational Devel. & Guidance 36 The ‘employer based’ programs represent another facet of the movement to provide education for career development.
1990 Times 23 Jan. 12/4 Governments have refused to allow tax deductions for child-care expenses or to relieve employer-subsidized nursery care of taxation.
2013 M. Dieckhoff in D. Gallie Econ. Crisis, Quality of Work, & Social Integration iv. 95 It is not possible in the analyses conducted here to distinguish whether training is employer-funded or not.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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