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.
Jamie Dimon — long considered a potential candidate to be treasury secretary, and the person in charge of one of the nation’s primary dealers of Treasury securities — says he wouldn’t buy American debt.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
Investors say they are reassured amid speculation that the new prime minister won’t name Ed Miliband as treasury chief.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
"Yet even this treasury could not add up to a background of common sense sufficient to make expert systems smart enough to be experts," Denning notes.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
“It’s a brutal business — you are better off putting your money into treasury bills, historically, so it’s hard for studios.”
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
He was afraid she planned to burn her treasury, and he could not let that happen.
From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby
The Treasury will auction $69 billion in two-year and $70 billion in five-year notes on Monday and $44 billion in seven-year notes on Tuesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
More: The 30-year Treasury yield is closing in on 5.2%.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
On Tuesday morning the Treasury announced that it would cut, external VAT from domestic electricity bills in the current financial year, knocking an estimated £45 from the typical household's annual bill from the autumn.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Treasury yields rose for the week, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note settling Friday at 4.678%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and his wife fell ill with the fever on September 5, and left the city.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
Bitcoin has dropped 26% since its October all-time high of $126,196, bringing the treasuries down with it.
From Barron's ● Dec. 9, 2025
What we’re seeing now is like a silent IPO: early, oversized holders distributing to a much broader base of buyers who came in through ETFs, brokerages and corporate treasuries.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 17, 2025
The frenzy around crypto treasuries further boosted token prices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2025
The activity implied that treasuries may have lost their glow, or that the stock market collapse had produced untenable losses among Wall Street traders.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2025
The shafts ran down by many slopes and spiral stairs to caverns far under; there Saruman had treasuries, store-houses, armouries, smithies, and great furnaces.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
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.
