# investment
## English
### Etymology

From invest +‎ -ment.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɪnˈvɛstmənt/, /ɪnˈvɛsmənt/
* Audio (US):(file)

### Noun

investment (countable and uncountable, plural investments)
* The act of investing, or state of being invested.
    Giving your children a good education is a wise long-term investment.
* (finance) A placement of capital in expectation of deriving income or profit from its use or appreciation.
    Antonym: divestment
** 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:An investment in ink, paper, and steel pens.
** 2013 July 19, Timothy Garton Ash, “Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 18: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.
* (obsolete) A vestment.
** 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:Whose white investments figure innocence.
* (military) The act of surrounding, blocking up, or besieging by an armed force, or the state of being so surrounded.
** 1875, John Howard Hinton, History of the United States of America, from the First Settlement:the investment of the fort
** 1890 May 16 [1890 April 17], “Honours to a Deceased Military Officer.”, in The North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette‎, volume XLIV, number 1189, Shanghai, →OCLC, page 594, column 3:In 1858, the Governor of Kuangsi applied for his services, but the Viceroy Tsêng Kuo-fan, under whom he had served for a number of years and who recognised his value, declined to part with him. In 1860 he assisted in the defeat of the rebel reinforcements at the Hsiao-ch‘ih post station and took part in the capture of Taihu, investment of An-ch‘ing and destruction of the rebel camp at Linghu. For his services in the capture of Anch‘ing he was rewarded with the title of Baturu and placed on the list of Brigade Generals. He was next sent to Chihchow in Anhui to make reconnaissances of the country and occupy the commanding situations.
* 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.

#### Derived terms

* alternative investment
* alternative investment fund
* angel investment
* capital investment
* collective investment scheme
* emergy investment ratio
* ethical investment
* foreign direct investment
* foreign investment
* investment bank
* investment banker
* investment banking
* investment casting
* investment company
* investment consultant
* investment dressing
* investment firm
* investment fund
* investment letter
* investment strategy
* malinvestment
* misinvestment
* private investment banker
* return on investment
* term investment
* wasting investment

#### Translations
### References

* “investment”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “investment”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.