VEST, noun [Latin vestis, a coat or garment; vestio, to cover or clothe.]

1. An outer garment.

Over his lucid arms a military vest of purple flow'd.

2. In common speech, a man's under garment; a short garment covering the body, but without sleeves, worn under the coat; called also waistcoat.

VEST, verb transitive

1. To clothe; to cover, surround or encompass closely.

With ether vested and a purple sky.

2. To dress; to clothe with a long garment; as the vested priest.

To vest with, to clothe; to furnish with; to invest with; as, to vest a man with authority; to vest a court with power to try cases of life and death; to vest one with the right of seizing slave ships.

Had I been vested with the monarch's pow'r.

To vest in, to put in possession of; to furnish with; to clothe with. The supreme executive power in England is vested in the king; in the United States, it is vested in the president.

2. To clothe with another form; to convert into another substance or species of property; as, to vest money in goods; to vest money in land or houses; to vest money in bank stock, or in six per cent stock; to vest all one's property in the public funds.

VEST, verb intransitive To come or descend to; to be fixed; to take effect, as a title or right. Upon the death of the ancestor, the estate, or the right to the estate, vests in the heir at law.