invest

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Invested; p. pr. & vb. n. Investing. ] [ L. investire, investitum; pref. in- in + vestire to clothe, fr. vestis clothing: cf. F. investir. See Vest. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To put garments on; to clothe; to dress; to array; -- opposed to divest. Usually followed by with, sometimes by in; as, to invest one with a robe. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To put on. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Can not find one this girdle to invest. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To clothe, as with office or authority; to place in possession of rank, dignity, or estate; to endow; to adorn; to grace; to bedeck; as, to invest with honor or glory; to invest with an estate. [ 1913 Webster ]

I do invest you jointly with my power. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To surround, accompany, or attend. [ 1913 Webster ]

Awe such as must always invest the spectacle of the guilt. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To confer; to give. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

It investeth a right of government. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Mil.) To inclose; to surround or hem in with troops, so as to intercept reinforcements of men and provisions and prevent escape; to lay siege to; as, to invest a town. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To lay out (money or capital) in business with the view of obtaining an income or profit; as, to invest money in bank stock. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. Hence: To expend (time, money, or other resources) with a view to obtaining some benefit of value in excess of that expended, or to achieve a useful pupose; as, to invest a lot of time in teaching one's children. [ PJC ]

a. [ L. investiens, p. pr. of investire. ] Covering; clothing. [ R. ] Woodward. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. investigabilis. See In- not, and Vestigate. ] Unsearchable; inscrutable. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

So unsearchable the judgment and so investigable the ways thereof. Bale. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. investigabilis. See Investigate. ] Capable or susceptible of being investigated; admitting research. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Investigated p. pr. & vb. n. Investigating. ] [ L. investigatus, p. p. of investigare to investigate; pref. in- in + vestigare to track, trace. See Vestige. ] To follow up step by step by patient inquiry or observation; to trace or track mentally; to search into; to inquire and examine into with care and accuracy; to find out by careful inquisition; as, to investigate the causes of natural phenomena. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To pursue a course of investigation and study; to make investigation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the work of inquiring into something thoroughly and systematically.
Syn. -- investigation. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. investigatio: cf. F. investigation. ] The act of investigating; the process of inquiring into or following up; research; study; inquiry, esp. patient or thorough inquiry or examination; as, the investigations of the philosopher and the mathematician; the investigations of the judge, the moralist. [ 1913 Webster ]