/ rɪˈkruːt; NAmE / verb , noun
■ verb
1.
to find new people to join a company, an organization, the armed forces, etc. :
[ vn ]
The police are trying to recruit more officers from ethnic minorities.
They recruited several new members to the club.
[ v ]
He's responsible for recruiting at all levels.
[also vn to inf ]
2.
[ vn to inf ] to persuade sb to do sth, especially to help you :
We were recruited to help peel the vegetables.
3.
[ vn ] to form a new army, team, etc. by persuading new people to join it :
to recruit a task force
► re·cruit·er noun
► re·cruit·ment noun [ U ]:
the recruitment of new members
a recruitment drive
■ noun
1.
a person who has recently joined the armed forces or the police :
the training of new recruits
He spoke of us scornfully as raw recruits (= people without training or experience) .
2.
a person who joins an organization, a company, etc. :
attempts to attract new recruits to the nursing profession
••
WORD ORIGIN
mid 17th cent. (in the senses fresh body of troops and supplement the numbers in a group ): from obsolete French dialect recrute , based on Latin recrescere grow again, from re- again + crescere grow.