| invest | 1. To put garments on; to clothe; to dress; to array; opposed to divest. Usually followed by with, sometimes by in; as, to invest one with a robe. 2. To put on. "Can not find one this girdle to invest." (Spenser) 3. To clothe, as with office or authority; to place in possession of rank, dignity, or estate; to endow; to adorn; to grace; to bedeck; as, to invest with honor or glory; to invest with an estate. "I do invest you jointly with my power." (Shak) 4. To surround, accompany, or attend. "Awe such as must always invest the spectacle of the guilt." (Hawthorne) 5. To confer; to give. "It investeth a right of government." (Bacon) 6. To inclose; to surround of hem in with troops, so as to intercept succors of men and provisions and prevent escape; to lay siege to; as, to invest a town. 7. To lay out (money or capital) in business with the iew of obtaining an income or profit; as, to invest money in bank stock. Origin: L. Investire, investitum; pref. In- in + vestire to clothe, fr. Vestis clothing: cf. F. Investir. See Vest. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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