invest English · revision 6029

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1533|origins=la investio}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɪnˈvest/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|investīre|t=to clothe, cover, surround]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) perhaps also through French investir,^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) from in- “in, into” and vestīre “to dress, clothe”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[m|la|vestis|t=clothing]] (see [[vest]]),^(Cresswell 2021)^(NODE 1998) which Watkins and Etymonline take from the PIE root [[ine-pro|*wes-|alt=*eu-|t=to dress]], the root also of [[wear]].^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) The financial sense was borrowed from Italian [[m|it|investire]], with the notion of giving one's capital a new form.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To clothe in the insignia of an office, to install in a rank: 1533–34 in Barnhart, about 1534 in MWU.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) Etymonline has the late 14th century, of clothing in official robes.^(Etymonline) Word Origins explains that someone formally installed in an office was once ceremonially dressed for it.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ To cover or surround as with a garment is from 1548, and to clothe a person in a garment from 1583.^(OED 1989) To surround a place with a hostile force, besiege, is from the 16th century.^(Hoad 1986) The figurative sense, to endow with qualities, is first in Shakespeare's ''Othello'' (1604).^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) To lay out money in something expected to give a profit appears in letters and journals of the East India trade in 1613–16;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) Barnhart thinks the Italian financial use passed through the Levant Company to the East India Company, from which it became general in the 18th century.^(Barnhart 1988) ''Investiture'' is from before 1387,^(Barnhart 1988) and ''investment'' meant vestments in Shakespeare's ''2 Henry IV'' (1597) before it meant the investing of capital in the 17th century.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1387 – ''investiture''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1533 – to install in office.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1548 – to surround, cover.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1604 – to endow with qualities, in Shakespeare.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1613 – to lay out money for profit.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To put money into shares, property or a business in the hope of a profit.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To spend time, effort or money on something for a future benefit.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To give someone power, authority or a quality; to install formally in an office.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(military, dated)'' To surround a place with troops; to [[besiege]].^(Hoad 1986)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[investable]]

+ * [[investor]]

+ * [[disinvest]]

+ * [[investiture]]

+ * [[overinvest]]

+ * [[reinvest]]

+ * [[underinvest]]

+ * [[investment]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[divest]]

+ * [[vest]]

+ * [[vestment]]

+ * [[vesture]]

+ * [[wear]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}