The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Hire \Hire\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hired (h[imac]rd); p. pr. &
   vb. n. Hiring.] [OE. hiren, huren, AS. h[=y]rian; akin to
   D. huren, G. heuern, Dan. hyre, Sw. hyra. See Hire, n.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. To procure (any chattel or estate) from another person,
      for temporary use, for a compensation or equivalent; to
      purchase the use or enjoyment of for a limited time; as,
      to hire a farm for a year; to hire money.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To engage or purchase the service, labor, or interest of
      (any one) for a specific purpose, by payment of wages; as,
      to hire a servant, an agent, or an advocate.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To grant the temporary use of, for compensation; to engage
      to give the service of, for a price; to let; to lease; --
      now usually with out, and often reflexively; as, he has
      hired out his horse, or his time.
      [1913 Webster]

            They . . . have hired out themselves for bread. --1
                                                  Sam. ii. 5.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Hire \Hire\ (h[~e]r), pron. [Obs.]
   See Here, pron. --Chaucer.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Hire \Hire\ (h[imac]r), n. [OE. hire, hure, AS. h[=y]r; akin to
   D. huur, G. heuer, Dan. hyre, Sw. hyra.]
   1. The price, reward, or compensation paid, or contracted to
      be paid, for the temporary use of a thing or a place, for
      personal service, or for labor; wages; rent; pay.
      [1913 Webster]

            The laborer is worthy of his hire.    --Luke x. 7.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Law.) A bailment by which the use of a thing, or the
      services and labor of a person, are contracted for at a
      certain price or reward. --Story.

   Syn: Wages; salary; stipend; allowance; pay.
        [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

hire
    n 1: a newly hired employee; "the new hires need special
         training"
    2: the act of hiring something or someone; "he signed up for a
       week's car hire"
    v 1: engage or hire for work; "They hired two new secretaries in
         the department"; "How many people has she employed?" [syn:
         hire, engage, employ] [ant: can, dismiss,
         displace, fire, force out, give notice, give the
         axe, give the sack, sack, send away, terminate]
    2: hold under a lease or rental agreement; of goods and services
       [syn: rent, hire, charter, lease]
    3: engage for service under a term of contract; "We took an
       apartment on a quiet street"; "Let's rent a car"; "Shall we
       take a guide in Rome?" [syn: lease, rent, hire,
       charter, engage, take]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

110 Moby Thesaurus words for "hire":
   admission, admission fee, anchorage, appoint, bareboat charter,
   base pay, bespeak, book, brief, brokerage, carfare, cellarage,
   charge, charges, charter, compensation, contract for, cost,
   cover charge, demand, dismissal wage, dockage, dues, earnings,
   emolument, employ, engage, enlist, entrance fee, escalator clause,
   escalator plan, exaction, exactment, fare, farm, farm out, fee,
   financial remuneration, gross income, guaranteed annual wage,
   hire out, hiring, income, job, lease, lease out, lease-back,
   lease-lend, lend-lease, let, let off, let out, license fee,
   living wage, minimum wage, net income, pay, pay and allowances,
   payment, payroll, pilotage, portage, portal-to-portal pay,
   preengage, price, purchasing power, put on, rate, real wages,
   recruit, remuneration, rent, rent out, rental, reserve, retain,
   salary, salvage, scot, scot and lot, severance pay, shot, sign on,
   sign up, sign up for, sliding scale, stipend, storage, sublease,
   sublet, subrent, take into employment, take on, take-home,
   take-home pay, taxable income, toll, total compensation, towage,
   underlet, wage, wage control, wage freeze, wage reduction,
   wage rollback, wage scale, wages, wages after deductions,
   wages after taxes, wharfage



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

HIRE, contracts. A bailment, where a compensation is to be given for the use
of a thing, or for labor or services about it. 2 Kent's Com. 456; 1 Bell's
Com. 451; Story on Bailm. Sec. 369; see 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 980, et seq;
Pothier, Contrat de Louage, ch. 1, n. 1; Domat, B. 1, tit. 4 Sec. 1, n. 1
Code Civ. art.. 1709, 1710; Civ. Code of Lo., art. 2644, 2645. See this
Dict. Hirer; Letter.
     2. The contract of letting and hiring is usually divided into two
kinds; first, Locatio, or Locatio conductio rei, the bailment of a thing to
be used by the hirer, for a compensation to be paid by him.
     3. Secondly, Locatio operis, or the hire of the labor and services of
the hirer, for a compensation to be paid by the letter.
     4. And this last kind is again subdivided into two classes: 1. Locatio
operis faciendi, or the hire of labor and work to be done, or care and
attention to be bestowed on the goods let by the hirer, for a compensation;
or,
     5.-2. Locatio operis mercium vehendarum, or the hire and carriage of
goods from one place to another, for a compensation. Jones' Bailm. 85, 86,
90, 103, 118; 2 Kent's Com. 456; Code Civ. art. 1709, 1710, 1711.
     6. This contract arises from the principles of natural law; it is
voluntary, and founded in consent; it involves mutual and reciprocal
obligations; and it is for mutual benefit. In some respects it bears a
strong resemblance to the contract of sale, the principal difference between
them being, that in cases of sale, the owner, parts with the whole
proprietary interest in the thing; and in cases of hire, the owner parts
with it only for a temporary use and purpose. In a sale, the thing itself is
the object of the contract; in hiring, the use of the thing is its object.
Vinnius, lib. 3, tit. 25, in pr.; Pothier, Louage, n. 2, 3, 4; Jones Bailm.
86; Story on Bailm. Sec. 371.
     7. Three things are of the essence of the contract: 1. That there
should be a thing to be let. 2. A price for the hire. 3. A contract
possessing a legal obligation. Pothier, Louage, n. 6; Civ. Code of Lo. art.
2640.
     8. There is a species of contract in which, though no price in money be
paid, and which, strictly speaking, is not the contract of hiring, yet
partakes of its nature. According to Pothier, it is an agreement which must
be classed with contracts do ut des. (q.v.) It frequently takes place among
poor people in the country. He gives the following example: two poor
neighbors, each owning a horse, and desirous to plough their respective
fields, to do which two horses are required, one agrees that he will let the
other have his horse for a particular time, on condition that the latter
will let the former have his horse for the same length of time. Du Louage n.
458. This contract is not a hiring, strictly speaking, for want of a price;
nor is it a loan for use, because there is to be a recompense. It has been
supposed to be a partnership; but it is different from that contract,
because there is no community of profits. This contract is, in general,
ruled by, the same principles which govern the contract of hiring. 19 Toull.
n. 247.
     9. Hire also, means the price given for the use of the thing hired; as,
the hirer is bound to pay the hire or recompense. Vide Domat. liv. 1, tit.
4; Poth. Contrat de Louage; Toull. tomes 18, 19, 20; Merl. Repert. mot
Louage; Dalloz, Dict. mot Louage; Argou, Inst. liv. 3, c. 27.