What is another word for "employer"?

Roget's Thesaurus (1911) lists these synonyms for "employer": always, bribe, bribery, buy, buyer, caveat, client, clientele, coemption, complete, counter, customer, emption, hire, invest, keep, make, market, over, patron, pay, preemption, procure, purchase, purchaser, refusal, rent, repurchase, right, shop, slave, spend, suborn, the, trade, vendee.