different between retainer vs hireling

English

Etymology

retain +? -er

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???te?n.?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???te?n.?/, /???te?n.?/
• Rhymes: -e?n?(r)

Noun

retainer (plural retainers)

1. Any thing or person that retains.
2. A dependent or follower of someone of rank.
3. A paid servant, especially one who has been employed for many years.
4. A fee one pays to reserve the other's time for services.

5. (dentistry) A device that holds teeth in position after orthodontic treatment.

Derived terms

• general retainer
• special retainer

Related terms

Translations

See also

• brace

Anagrams

• Arretine, Eretrian, Eritrean, Renteria, rain tree, rain-tree, raintree

English

Etymology

From Middle English hirlyng, from Old English h?rling (“hireling, employee”), from Proto-West Germanic *h??ijuling. Cognate with West Frisian hierling, Dutch huurling (“hireling, mercenary”), German Low German Hüürling,German Heuerling.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?ha?.?.l??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?ha???l??/

Noun

hireling (plural hirelings)

1. (usually derogatory) An employee who is hired, often to perform unpleasant tasks with little independence.
   • 1611, King James Version, Job 7:1:

     Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?

   • 1848: William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 19:

     When my poor James was in the smallpox, did I allow any hireling to nurse him?

2. (usually derogatory) Someone who does a job purely for money, rather than out of interest in the work itself.
   • 1605: Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning

     ... it may be truly affirmed that no kind of men love business for itself but those that are learned; for other persons love it for profit, as a hireling that loves the work for the wages;

   • 1821, Lord Byron, Sardanapalus, Act II, sc. 1:

     These vain bickerings

     Are spawn'd in courts by base intrigues and baser

     Hirelings, who live by lies on good men's lives.

3. A horse for hire.
   • 1934, Evelyn Waugh, A Handful of Dust, Chapter 3, Section 5:

     In the afternoon they went to a neighbouring livery stables to look for hirellings.

4. (obsolete) A prostitute.

Synonyms

• flunky
• lackey
• mercenary

Translations

See also

• underling