INVEST', verb transitive [Latin investio; in and vestio, to clothe. See Vest.]

1. To clothe; to dress; to put garments on; to array; usually and most correctly followed by with, before the thing put on; as, to invest one with a mantle or robe. In this sense, it is used chiefly in poetry and elevated prose, not in colloquial discourse.

2. To clothe with office or authority; to place in possession of an office, rank or dignity; as, to invest a person with a civil office, or with an ecclesiastical dignity.

3. To adorn; to grace; as, to invest with honor.

4. To clothe; to surround; as, to be invested with light, splendor or glory.

5. To confer; to give. [Little used.]

6. To inclose; to surround; to block up, so as to intercept succors of men and provisions and prevent escape; to lay siege to; as, to invest a town.

7. To clothe money in something permanent or less fleeting; as, to invest money in funded or bank stock; to invest it in lands or goods. In this application, it is always followed by in.