the.com/furlough
Your job isn't dead, it's just sleeping — without paying rent.
means A temporary, employer-mandated leave from work (often unpaid), with the expectation of returning once things pick back up.
from From Dutch 'verlof,' meaning 'permission' or 'leave' — literally 'for-leave,' built from a prefix plus the word for permission. It entered English through military use, granting soldiers official leave of absence, and only later marched into offices and factories to describe workers temporarily stood down.
- origin
- from dutch verlof, meaning permission
- status
- technically still employed, practically unemployed
- pay
- often zero, sometimes partial, rarely full
- military use
- originally meant approved leave for soldiers