vest

American  

[vest] / vɛst /

noun

• vests
  plural

1. a close-fitting, waist-length, sleeveless garment that buttons down the front, designed to be worn under a jacket.

2. a part or trimming simulating the front of such a garment; vestee.

3. a waist-length garment worn for protective purposes.

   a bulletproof vest.

4. a sleeveless, waist- or hip-length garment made of various materials, with a front opening usually secured by buttons, a zipper, or the like, worn over a shirt, blouse, dress, or other article for style or warmth.

   a sweater vest; a down vest.

5. British. an undervest or undershirt.

6. a long garment resembling a cassock, worn by men in the time of Charles II.

7. Archaic.

   1. dress; apparel.

   2. an outer garment, robe, or gown.

   3. an ecclesiastical vestment.

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verb (used with object)

• vests,
  present (3rd person singular)
• vested,
  past participle,  past
• vesting
  present participle

1. to clothe; dress; robe.

2. to dress in ecclesiastical vestments.

   to vest a bishop.

3. to cover or drape (an altar).

4. to place or settle (something, especially property, rights, powers, etc.) in the possession or control of someone (usually followed byin ).

   to vest authority in a new official.

5. to invest or endow (a person, group, committee, etc.) with something, as powers, functions, or rights.

   to vest the board with power to increase production; to vest an employee with full benefits in the pension plan.

verb (used without object)

• vests,
  present (3rd person singular)
• vested,
  past participle,  past
• vesting
  present participle

1. to put on vestments.

2. to become vested in a person, as a right.

3. to devolve upon a person as possessor; pass into possession or ownership.

idioms

1. play it close to the vest, to avoid taking unnecessary risks.

vest British  

/ vɛst /

noun

1. US and Canadian equivalent: T-shirt.   undershirt.  Austral equivalent: singlet.  an undergarment covering the body from the shoulders to the hips, made of cotton, nylon, etc

2. Austral equivalent: singlet.  a similar sleeveless garment worn as outerwear

3. Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): waistcoat.  a man's sleeveless waistlength garment worn under a suit jacket, usually buttoning up the front

4. obsolete any form of dress, esp a long robe

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verb

1. to place or settle (power, rights, etc, in)

   power was vested in the committee

2. to bestow or confer (on)

   the company was vested with authority

3. (usually foll by in) to confer (a right, title, property, etc, upon) or (of a right, title, etc) to pass (to) or devolve (upon)

4. (tr) to clothe or array

5. (intr) to put on clothes, ecclesiastical vestments, etc

Usage

What is a basic definition of vest? A vest is an article of clothing worn on the upper body, with no sleeves and with buttons down the front. The word vest is also used generally to refer to any similar garment. As a verb, vest means to put something in the possession of another person. Vest has several other senses as a noun and a verb. In the United States, the word vest refers to a sleeveless garment usually worn over a shirt and sometimes under a jacket. A vest is generally not supposed to be worn by itself.

• Real-life examples: The Disney cartoon character Goofy usually wears a black or brown vest over an orange shirt. If you wear a tuxedo, you will often wear a vest with it.
• Used in a sentence: A man’s three-piece suit includes a suit coat, vest, and trousers.

The word vest is also used to refer to other garments that lack sleeves and end at the waist.

• Real-life examples: Police officers wear bulletproof vests for protection. Airplanes, boats, and public pools keep life vests available to keep people from drowning. Hunters wear hunting vests with many pockets to store supplies.
• Used in a sentence: The professor could always be seen smoking a pipe and wearing a sweater vest.

As a verb, vest means to give power, rights, or responsibility to another person. This sense of vest is usually written as “vest in.”

• Real-life example: Most Americans are likely familiar with this sense of vest if they have attended a wedding: A religious figure will alert the attendees that a state has vested in them the power and authority to join people in a legally recognized marriage.
• Used in a sentence: Executive power is vested in the President through the Constitution.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• vestless
  adjective
• vestlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• vests
  plural

Participles

• vesting
  present
• vested
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• vest
  simple
• vests
  simple
• have vested
  perfect
• has vested
  perfect
• am vesting
  progressive
• are vesting
  progressive
• is vesting
  progressive
• have been vesting
  perfect progressive
• has been vesting
  perfect progressive

Past

• vested
  simple
• had vested
  perfect
• was vesting
  progressive
• were vesting
  progressive
• had been vesting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will vest
  simple
• will have vested
  perfect
• will be vesting
  progressive
• will have been vesting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of vest

1375–1425; (noun) late Middle English < Italian veste robe, dress < Latin vestis garment; (v.) late Middle English < Middle French vestir < Latin vestīre to clothe, derivative of vestis; akin to wear

Explanation

A vest is a sleeveless piece of clothing that's usually worn over a shirt. Your dad might love to wear his favorite striped sweater vest to parties, which is less embarrassing than when he wears the orange furry one. There are different kinds of vests, including sweater vests, puffy winter vests, and tailored suit vests, usually worn underneath a formal jacket. Some vests have buttons, and others have zippers or snaps. Some are even bullet proof! When vest is a verb, it means to grant or bestow: "The Queen vests control of the zoos to the Royal Zookeeper." Both meanings of vest come from the same root word, the Latin vestire, "to clothe."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vest vests vested vesting

Some people still carry that information in a vest pocket.

From Salon ● Sep. 10, 2026

Garcia-Leys said the plates could not be “used for a crime” or any other purpose unless they were slotted into a vest.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

Those founder tokens will be locked, meaning they can’t be sold, for six months and will vest fully in two years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

Matt Hudson-Smith was fifth in the 400m, well off Botswana's world champion Collen Kebinatshipi, while Jake Hayward, running in his Wales vest, was eighth in a captivating 1500m race.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

His last thought was of the cub, curled into the cave with his milky vest tucked beside her.

From "Tiger Boy" by Mitali Perkins

Outside Sacramento, Calif., dozens of workers in yellow vests do stretches before going out to lay a continuous, five-mile-long fiber-optic cable under the city.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026

Volunteer efforts had been co-ordinated from Brantham Leisure Centre and the village hall, which ran out of hi-vis vests due to the number of volunteers.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

I walk down the street and I see an alarming number of people wearing weighted walking vests now, which is so frightening that it requires me to catch my breath every now and again.

From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2026

Images broadcast by Turkish television showed the upside-down ferry in the water, with people wearing life vests atop its orange hull.

From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026

The mangle turned of its own accord in a corner, wringing out what looked like one of Mr. Weasley’s vests.

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

In other words, she may have a vested interest in her brother not selling this property or making other decisions that could affect the value of her potential inheritance.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026

There was no guarantee we all would want to participate—some of us, namely me, have never really had a vested interest in soccer before.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

“All the parties have a vested interest in honesty, and in a good user experience.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026

In January, 4.5 million shares vested, and the value of these warrants is recorded as a sales discount, a noncash charge called contra-revenue.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

We provided them with information about people working against their vested interests.

From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee

UMA “distributes resolution authority across a transparent, marketwide framework rather than vesting it in any single decision maker,” she added.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026

That money often comes with strings attached; about half of employees might have a vesting schedule where you can only keep the funds if you stay with the company for a certain amount of time.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 10, 2026

According to ISS, another eyebrow-raising element was that the vast majority of Zaslav’s estimated compensation — over 94% — was being derived by the automatic acceleration of stock vesting and the excise tax gross-up payment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026

The rationale for vesting awesome powers in a politically insulated central bank is that sage technocrats will make wise decisions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026

Peter instituted a supervision over the autonomous Ukrainian administration, vesting authority in Muscovite officers, through whose hands passed everything pertaining to the hetman's chancellery.

From Memorandum to the Government of the United States on the Recognition of the Ukrainian People's Republic by Julian Batchinsky

Related Words

• bestow
• confer
• empower
• endow