Investment

Pronunciation

Origin

invest + -ment

Full definition of investment

Noun

1. The act of investing, or state of being invested.
2. (finance) A placement of capital in expectation of deriving income or profit from its use.
• A. HamiltonAn investment in ink, paper, and steel pens.
• 2013-07-19, Timothy Garton Ash, Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli, Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe....The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.
3. That with which anyone is invested; a vestment.
• William ShakespeareWhose white investments figure innocence.
4. (military) The act of surrounding, blocking up, or besieging by an armed force, or the state of being so surrounded.
• MarshallThe capitulation was signed by the commander of the fort within six days after its investments.
5. A mixture of silica sand and plaster which, by surrounding a wax pattern, creates a negative mold of the form used for casting, among other metals, bronze.