a place where the funds of the government, of a corporation, or the like are deposited, kept, and disbursed.
funds or revenue of a government, public or private corporation, etc.
(initial capital letter) the department of government that has control over the collection, management, and disbursement of the public revenue.
a building, room, chest, or other place for the preservation of treasure or valuable objects.
a collection or supply of excellent or highly prized writings, works of art, etc..
a treasury of American poetry.
Informal. Treasuries, Treasury bills, bonds, and notes.
a storage place for treasure
the revenues or funds of a government, private organization, or individual
a place where funds are kept and disbursed
Also: treasure house. a collection or source of valuable items
a treasury of information
1250–1300; Middle English tresorie < Old French. See treasure, -y 3
A treasury is a kind of bank — it's a place where money and other valuable things are kept, or where a country keeps its wealth. You might guess that a treasury is a place to keep your treasure, and you'd be right. Originally, the word literally meant "room for treasure," from the Old French tresor, "hoard or treasure." Starting in the late 1300s, it also meant "department that controls public revenue," which remains the most common use of treasury today. The U.S. even has an official Department of the Treasury, the part of the executive branch that prints money and collects taxes.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
You need only look at the index’s crypto treasury companies, now affecting all of our retirements, to realize that that isn’t the case.
From Slate • Jun. 5, 2026
Critics of this so-called digital asset treasury playbook have feared that Strategy and its copycats won’t be able to pay their debt or dividend obligations unless Bitcoin prices recover.
From Barron's • May 26, 2026
Last year’s Genius Act requires stablecoins that cater to Americans be backed with safe, liquid assets such as treasury bills and bank deposits.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 25, 2026
That means for every dollar a state recovers by hunting down a fraudulent home health agency or a phantom hospice, less than 35 cents return to the state treasury.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026
The local papers would have a field day reporting that while I was running a principals’ conference in Las Vegas, my trusted eighth grade president was emptying my treasury.
From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
