Investment \In*vest"ment\, n.

1. The act of investing, or the state of being invested.

2. That with which anyone is invested; a vestment.

Whose white investments figure innocence. --Shak.

3. (Mil.) The act of surrounding, blocking up, or besieging by an armed force, or the state of being so surrounded.

The capitulation was signed by the commander of the fort within six days after its investments. --Marshall.

4. The laying out of money in the purchase of some species of property; the amount of money invested, or that in which money is invested.

Before the investment could be made, a change of the market might render it ineligible. --A. Hamilton.

An investment in ink, paper, and steel pens. --Hawthorne.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)