means The act of committing money, time, or effort to something now in the hope it will grow or pay off later.

from From Latin 'investire,' meaning 'to clothe' or 'to dress' (from 'in-' plus 'vestis,' a garment — the same root that gives us 'vest' and 'vestments'). The financial sense grew from the idea of clothing your money in a new form: you wrap your capital in a venture, a stock, a property, the way you'd robe a body in fabric. The military 'investment' of a besieged city — surrounding it — comes from the same clothing image, the fortress wrapped tight by an army.