hirelingn.adj.
/ˈhʌɪəlɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈhaɪ(ə)rlɪŋ/ A. n.
1.
a. One who serves for hire or wages; a hired servant; a mercenary (soldier). (Now usually somewhat contemptuous: cf. A. 2)
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > types of servant > [noun] > hireling
hiremanc975
hirelingc1000
leȝhemannc1175
allowes1348
merchantc1384
mercenaryc1387
hiring manc1425
pensioner1472
wageling?1545
pensionary1548
hired woman1639
help1645
engagee1808
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to conditions > [noun] > hireling
hireling1535
hackney1546
journeyman1548
coolie1622
mercedary1656
hack1699
hiree1811
society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > soldier by type of service > [noun] > mercenary
wagerc1420
knight wager1513
mercenary1523
lance-knight1530
suddart1542
hireling1547
adventurer1548
venturer1572
lansquenet1577
warmonger1590
mercenarian1598
passe-volant1617
provantman1659
soldier of fortune1661
privateer1676
routier1683
bravo1761
stipendiary1768
free companion1804
freelance1819
free-rider1821
freelancer1854
merchant of death1934
merc1967
c1000 West Saxon Gospels: Mark (Corpus Cambr.) i. 20 Hi heora fæder zebedeo on scipe forleton mid hyrlingum [c1160 Hatton G. hyrlingen].
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Tobit v. 11 Axest thou after the kynred of an hyrelinge?
1547 J. Harrison Exhort. Scottes G j b To bee as common hirelynges to a forrein nacion.
1582 Bible (Rheims) John x. 13 The hireling fleeth because he is a hireling [ Wyclif hirid hyne; Tindale heyred servaunt].
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. ix. 380 I dispatched my Dragoman, and the other Barbarian hireling.
1734 tr. C. Rollin Anc. Hist. I. 201 The loss he had sustained by the robbery of his hireling.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. (1880) I. i. 57 Hirelings whom want and idleness had induced to enlist.
b. A hired horse.Apparently an isolated use.
ΚΠ
1893 G. Chesney Lesters III. ii. xxi. 23 Lionel on his hireling was the only one up with the hounds at the last.
2. One who makes reward or material remuneration the motive of his actions; a mercenary. (Opprobrious.)
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > [noun] > mercenariness > person
mercenaryc1387
hireling1574
prostitute1680
spoilsman1850
1574 A. Golding tr. A. Marlorat Catholike Expos. Reuelation 32 Least in sted of faithfull shepherds, they set hyrelings or rather wolues ouer the flocke of Christe.
1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning i. sig. C3 As an hireling that loues the worke for the wages. View more context for this quotation
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 193 So since into his Church lewd Hirelings climbe. View more context for this quotation
1722 A. Pope To Earl of Oxford in T. Parnell Poems Several Occasions Ded. sig. A3 No Hireling she, no Prostitute to Praise.
1821 Ld. Byron Sardanapalus ii. i. 56 Baser Hirelings, who live by lies on good men's lives.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iv. 456 James..had now, in becoming King of England, become also a hireling and vassal of Lewis.
B. adj.
Characteristic of or pertaining to a hireling; serving for hire or wages; to be had for hire; mercenary. (Usually opprobrious.)
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to conditions > [adjective] > hired or relating to hireling
mercenary1569
hireling1587
hackneyed1743
society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > [adjective] > motivated by material reward
mercenary1532
hireling1587
truculent1825
kiss-cow1840
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > types of servant > [adjective] > hireling
pensionary1548
hireling1587
1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. xxxii. 593 What find we in all the writings of the Heathen but a Hireling vertue?
1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. i. viii. §15. 177 The factious and hireling Historians of all Ages.
1681 J. Dryden Absalom & Achitophel 29 The Plot, by hireling Witnesses improv'd.
1721 Coll. Polit. Lett. London Jrnl. 1720 47 Here are also hireling Chairs.
1738 S. Johnson London 213 Some hireling senators.
1843 T. B. Macaulay Ivry iv With all the hireling chivalry of Guelders and Almayne.
1894 Law Times 97 384/1 [To] earn for itself the name of a profession of hireling subornees of perjury.
Derivatives
ˈhirelingship n. the condition of a hireling.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > types of servant > [noun] > hireling > position of
hirelingship1827
1827 R. Pollok Let. in D. Pollok Life R. Pollok (1841) 357 Wherever you send him during the above specified hirelingship.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.c1000