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.
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.
