Invest \In*vest"\, 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.]

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.

2. To put on. [Obs.]

Can not find one this girdle to invest. --Spenser.

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.

I do invest you jointly with my power. --Shak.

4. To surround, accompany, or attend.

Awe such as must always invest the spectacle of the guilt. --Hawthorne.

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

It investeth a right of government. --Bacon.

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

7. To lay out (money or capital) in business with the ?iew of obtaining an income or profit; as, to invest money in bank stock.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)