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n. 1. A sleeveless garment, often having buttons down the front, worn usually over a shirt or blouse and sometimes as part of a three-piece suit. 2. A waist-length, sleeveless garment worn for protection: a warm down vest; a bulletproof vest. 3. A fabric trim worn to fill in the neckline of a woman's garment; a vestee. 4. Chiefly British An undershirt. 5. Obsolete An ecclesiastical vestment. v. vest·ed, vest·ing, vests v.tr. 1. To place (authority, property, or rights, for example) in the control of a person or group, especially to give someone an immediate right to present or future possession or enjoyment of (an estate, for example). Used with in: vested his estate in his daughter. 2. To invest or endow (a person or group) with something, such as power or rights. Used with with: vested the council with broad powers; vests its employees with full pension rights after five years of service. 3. To clothe or robe, as in ecclesiastical vestments. v.intr. 1. To become legally vested: stock options that vest after the second year of employment. 2. To dress oneself, especially in ecclesiastical vestments. [French veste, robe, from Italian vesta, from Latin vestis, garment; see wes-2 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
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