▪ I. invest, v.
(ɪnˈvɛst)
Also 6 en-.
[ad. L. invest-īre, f. in- (in-2) + vestīre to dress, clothe. Cf. F. investir (14–15th c. in Hatz.-Darm.); also OF. envestir. Sense 9 is from It. investire.]
I. 1. a. trans. To clothe, robe, or envelop (a person) in or with a garment or article of clothing; to dress or adorn.
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. i. (1879) 38 He..could haue inuested them in silks, veluets [etc.]. 1598 F. Meres Palladis Tamia 280 The English tongue is..gorgeouslie invested in rare ornaments. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xv. 241 Ile show you, how the Bride, faire Isis, they invest. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 493 In the jollity of that humour he invested George Wither..in the royal habiliments. 1850 A. Jameson Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863) 25 Murillo has represented the Virgin and two angels about to invest the kneeling saint, with the splendid chasuble. |
b. Of an article of dress: To clothe, cover, adorn.
| 1704 Swift T. Tub ii. (1709) 38 They held the Universe to be a large suit of clothes which invests every thing. 1710 Parnell Hermit 176 Fair rounds of radiant points invest his hair. 1820 Scott Ivanhoe iv, The high cap no longer invested his brows. |
c. To put on as clothes or ornaments; to don.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. v. 18 So faire a crew..Cannot find one this girdle to inuest. 1628 Donne Serm. xxix. 289 He needed not to have invested and taken the forme of a tongue. 1629 Ibid. xxiv. 240 Bound to that Religion that he had invested in Baptisme. 1850 Mrs. Browning Poems II. 177 Meek angels ye invest New meeknesses to hear such utterance rest On mortal lips. |
2. transf. a. To cover or surround as with a garment. Const. with.
| 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke iii. 46 b, Y⊇ holy ghost being of himself..inuisible, but for y⊇ time enuested and clad with a figure or likenesse visible. 1592 Davies Immort. Soul cclxviii, The fables..others did with brutish forms invest. 1651 Raleigh's Ghost 197 Those Soules, which while they were here invested with their bodies, did live wickedly. 1772 Hist. Rochester 13 The king is said to have invested Rochester with a wall. 1777 Cockin in Phil. Trans. LXX. 159 Where the sun shone the bushes were each invested with a mist. 1860 Maury Phys. Geog. Sea (Low) i. 1 Our planet is invested with two great oceans. |
b. To cover, envelop, or coat, as a garment does.
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. viii. 376 Thus with the Torrid Zone, am I opprest, And lock't twixt Tropickes Two, which me invest. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xxi. 152 The thin film of water that invests and detains it [the air in bubbles]. 1832 Lyell Princ. Geol. II. 11 A belief..that the primeval ocean invested the whole planet long after it became the habitation of living beings. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. III. 184 Thread-like down which invests the plant. 1873 Mivart Elem. Anat. vii. 236 The skin of man invests his body pretty closely. |
c. To embed in or surround with investment (sense 2 b).
| 1892 C. Hunter Man. Dental Laboratory viii. 107 We..apply the little plaster-mould to the face of the model and settle the tooth in it, cement tooth to auxiliary plate, then carefully remove from denture, invest and solder. 1946 Foundry Aug. 85/1 Precision casting is a somewhat abused term often employed to designate the lost wax investment casting process... Properly, the phrase investment casting is the most suitable for use in defining the lost wax investment casting process since it is characterized primarily by the use of a molding material which completely enrobes or invests an expendable pattern. 1964 S. Crawford Basic Engin. Processes xii. 255 This casting process involves the use of a heat-disposable wax pattern which is invested with refractory material forming a mould (or shell). |
3. fig. a. To clothe or endue with attributes, qualities, or a character. Const. with, also in, into.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. iv. i. 40 Nature would not inuest her selfe in such shadowing passion, without some Instruction. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 8 The tales of Arthur..he hath invested into the goodly title of an Historie. 1713 Steele Englishm. No. 21. 139 They are invested with the Character of Ambassadors from Heaven. 1855 Prescott Philip II, ii. ix. (1857) 305 The mystery thus thrown around the fate of the unhappy sufferer only invested it with an additional horror. 1871 B. Taylor Faust (1875) I. i. 31 Bliss hath invested him. 1877 R. W. Dale Lect. Preach. v. (1878) 122 To invest with interest subjects which in themselves are uninteresting. |
† b. refl. (const. into). Obs.
| 1592 W. Wyrley Armorie 12 Both of them..relinquished their deuise of vndie, and inuested themselues into ridels. Ibid. 14 Into one of these kind of differings could I wish our yoonger brothers..to invest themselues. |
4. To clothe with or in the insignia of an office; hence, with the dignity itself; to install in an office or rank with the customary rites or ceremonies.
| 1533–4 Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 20 §1 That euery Arch⁓bishop and Bishop, being..consecrated and inuested shall be installed accordingly. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VII 36 The lord Thomas Stanley he invested with the swoorde of the countie of Darby. 1600 Holland Livy iv. vii. 144 They were invested both in the jurisdiction, and also in the ornaments of the Consuls. 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. iii. 77 The day the Pope is invested they do so too. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. xi. (1809) 380 If such arch-bishop or bishop do refuse to confirm, invest, and consecrate such bishop elect, they shall [etc.]. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) II. iv. iii. 255 Theodorus, who had been invested in the metropolitan dignity at Rome. 1864 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. xii. (1875) 187 Richard was at the same time invested with the Kingdom of Arles by Henry VI. |
5. To establish (a person) in the possession of any office, position, property, etc.; to endow or furnish with power, authority, or privilege. Const. in, with (also † of, into, unto).
| 1564 Golding Justine 150 (R.) Alexander..began..to mocke and despyse Ptolomie himselfe, by whome he was put in and inuested in that kyngdome. 1581 Savile Tacitus' Agric. (1622) 197 The end of Britannie is found, not by fame and report, but we are with our armes and pauilions really inuested thereof. 1608 D. T. Ess. Pol. & Mor. 61 His..end, was to invest a creature of his owne with that charge and dignitie. 1617 Hieron Wks. I. 112 To bee by faith ingraffed into Christ is the true honour; this doth inuest a man into that royalty, which is in the person of Christ. 1632 Lithgow Trav. viii. 346 A brother of the one Baron, and a sister of the other, were instantly invested in their Lands. 1710 Prideaux Orig. Tithes i. 3 God..invested Man in a full property of all things. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 271 This body is invested with the spiritual government of the congregation. 1836 J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. vii. (1852) 204 The innocent being is by law invested with the right to enjoy security. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. xiv. i. (1864) IX. 5 They were invested in a kind of omniscience. 1861 M. Pattison Ess. (1891) I. 35 Rudolf [agreed] to invest Hartmann with lands to the capital value of 10,000l. |
6. a. To settle, secure, or vest (a right or power) in (a person). Const. in († with, † upon).
| 1590 Swinburne Testaments 49 b, For that which is the wiues, is by reason of the mariage her husbandes, and being inuested in him..cannot bee giuen from him without his licence or consent. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry v. i. (1611) 253 The inheritance aswell of the possessions as of the coat armour are inuested in them and their posterity. a 1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 88 Then..was the Scepter..invested upon the Tribe of Iudah. 1646 H. Lawrence Comm. Angells 67 Some reasons why God gives this ministery to the Divells, why it is invested in them by God. 1794 S. Williams Vermont 300 The powers invested in Congress were in effect. 1800 Ann. Reg. 56 The supreme magistracy was to be invested in a grand elector. |
† b. intr. To settle itself, vest in some possessor.
| 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. Epit. (1612) 393 How..the Crowne-right of the House of Edward the first inuested in the Familie of York, and from whom they claimed, and in whome their claime effected. |
7. Milit. To enclose or hem in with a hostile force, so as to cut off approach or escape; to lay siege to; to besiege, beleaguer; † to attack.
| 1600 Holland Livy v. vi. 183 No wearisomnesse of long siege & assault..is able to raise the Roman armie from any towne once by them invested. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. i. 2 They discovered a ship, vnto which they gave chase all the night,..having fetcht her up by break of day, they gaue her a volley of three pieces of Ordnance, and presently invested her with a great deal of courage. 1726–31 Tindal Rapin's Hist. Eng. (1743) II. xvii. 112 The Earl not having sufficient forces to besiege the Fort contented himself with investing it. 1810 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1838) VI. 41 Astorga is invested, but has not been vigorously attacked. 1840 Macaulay Ess., Clive (1887) 534 Rajah Sahib proceeded to invest the fort of Arcot, which seemed quite incapable of sustaining a siege. |
† 8. To occupy or engage, to absorb. Obs. rare.
| 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 62 The one [prince] was invested in the war of Persia, the other in the commotions of the Low countries. |
II. [after It. investire ‘..also, to laie out or emploie ones money vpon anie bargaine for aduantage’ (Florio, 1598). This sense is exemplified as early as 1333 in Vocab. della Crusca. It prob. passed through the Levant or Turkey Company into the East India Company's use.]
9. a. To employ (money) in the purchase of anything from which interest or profit is expected; now, esp. in the purchase of property, stocks, shares, etc., in order to hold these for the sake of the interest, dividends, or profits accruing from them.
| 1613 T. Aldworth Let. to E. India Co. Surat, 25 Jan. (MS., Orig. Corr. 102), Hauinge left with vs in goods and monies to be inuested in Commodities fitt for Englande..to the vallew of 4000 li. 1615 T. Elkington Let. to E. India Co. 25 Feb. (Orig. Corr. 251), To invest itt in Indico to bee in Surrat before the raynes. 1616 Sir T. Roe Jrnl. 28 May (Hakl. Soc.), This is yearly theyr Custome at this season to bring goodes, and so to goe for Agra and invest in Indico. 1710 in Peere Williams' Rep. I. (1792) 141 The primary Intent of the Testator in carrying abroad the Money was to invest it in Trade. 1740 Ibid. 140 The..captain..had 800 dollars on board the ship, which he intended to invest in trade. 1757 Herald (1758) I. v. 66 By investing in the stocks so much of their incomes and gains as they do not spend. 1804 Earl of Lauderdale Publ. Wealth (1819) 157 That portion of capital invested in a plough, supplants the necessity..of the labour of five diggers. 1833 H. Martineau Loom & Lugger i. i. 3 There was little encouragement to invest his remaining capital. 1840 Macaulay Ess., Clive (1887) 562 Many of them even invested their property in India stock. 1878 Jevons Primer Pol. Econ. v. 45 To invest capital..means to turn circulating into fixed capital, or less durable into more durable capital. |
| fig. 1837 H. Martineau Soc. Amer. III. 45 He has most profitably invested his time and energy in the anti-slavery cause. 1872 Bagehot Physics & Pol. (1876) 49 Every intellectual gain..was invested and taken out in war. |
b. absol. or intr. To make an investment, to invest capital; colloq. to lay out money, make a purchase. (So in It.)
| 1864 Webster s.v., To invest in stocks. 1868 Montgomerie in Proc. R. Geog. Soc. 15 July 155 The Pundit had invested in a wooden bowl. 1870 Rogers Hist. Gleanings Ser. ii. 146 Men invested in a parliamentary seat as they did in any kind of speculative stock. 1883 Wharton's Law Lex. s.v., When a trustee, executor, or administrator is not expressly forbidden to invest in real securities, in the United Kingdom. Mod. colloq. To invest in a penny time-table. |
c. To lay out money in betting on a horse race, or in football pools, etc.
| 1951 ‘H. Cecil’ Painswick Line ix. 107 He went to the {pstlg}5 tote windows and invested (as they euphemistically call it) {pstlg}100 on Maiden Aunt. 1958 Punch 27 Aug. 265/1 Your skill can put you on top of the world when it's invested with―'s [Pools]. 1973 Times 21 Apr. 12/1 In bookie parlance, one does not bet on a horse; one invests. |
Hence inˈvested ppl. a.
| Mod. Eager for news of the relief of the invested town. |
▪ II. † inˈvest, n. Obs. rare—1.
[f. prec. vb.]
A payment made to the Pope or Head of the church by a bishop or the like at his investiture.
| 1533–4 Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 20 §1 Yeldyng vnto the kinges highnes..all suche dueties, rightes, and inuestes, as before time hath ben accustomed to be paid for any such Archbishopricke or Bishopricke. |