noun
- the investing of money or capital in order to gain profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value.
- a particular instance or mode of investing.
- a thing invested in, as a business, a quantity of shares of stock, etc.
- something that is invested; sum invested.
- the act or fact of investing or state of being invested, as with a garment.
- a devoting, using, or giving of time, talent, emotional energy, etc., as for a purpose or to achieve something: His investment in the project included more time than he cared to remember.
- Biology. any covering, coating, outer layer, or integument, as of an animal or vegetable.
- the act of investing with a quality, attribute, etc.
- investiture with an office, dignity, or right.
- a siege or blockade; the surrounding of a place with military forces or works, as in besieging.
- Also called investment compound. Metallurgy. a refractory material applied in a plastic state to a pattern to make a mold.
- Archaic. a garment or vestment.
noun
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- the act of investing money
- the amount invested
- an enterprise, asset, etc, in which money is or can be invested
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- the act of investing effort, resources, etc
- the amount invested
- economics the amount by which the stock of capital (plant, machinery, materials, etc) in an enterprise or economy changes
- biology the outer layer or covering of an organ, part, or organism
- a less common word for investiture (def. 1)
- the act of investing or state of being invested, as with an official robe, a specific quality, etc
- rare the act of besieging with military forces, works, etc
n.1590s, “act of putting on vestments” (a sense now found in investiture); later “act of being invested with an office, right, endowment, etc.” (1640s); and “surrounding and besieging of a military target” (1811); see invest + -ment. Commercial sense is from 1610s, originally of the finances of the East India Company; general use is from 1740 in the sense of “conversion of money to property in hopes of profit,” and by 1837 in the sense “amount of money so invested; property viewed as a vehicle for profit.” For evolution of commercial senses, see invest. The purchase of property with the expectation that its value will increase over time.