Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun 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.
  • noun A waist-length, sleeveless garment worn for protection.
  • noun A fabric trim worn to fill in the neckline of a woman's garment; a vestee.
  • noun Chiefly British An undershirt.
  • noun Obsolete An ecclesiastical vestment.
  • intransitive verb 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.
  • intransitive verb To invest or endow (a person or group) with something, such as power or rights. Used with with.
  • intransitive verb To clothe or robe, as in ecclesiastical vestments.
  • intransitive verb To become legally vested.
  • intransitive verb To dress oneself, especially in ecclesiastical vestments.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An article of clothing covering the person; an outer garment; a vestment.
  • noun Figuratively, garment; dress; array; vesture.
  • noun A body-garment for men's wear, at different times of distinct types
  • noun A body-garment of later times; especially, the waistcoat in the ordinary modern sense—that is, a short garment without sleeves, buttoning down the front, and having the back concealed by the coat.
  • noun An outer garment, or part of such a garment, for women.
  • noun An undergarment knitted or woven on the stocking-loom. Vest and undervest are more common in England; undershirt in the United States.
  • To clothe with or as with a garment, vest, or vestment; robe; dress; cover, surround, or encompass closely.
  • To invest or clothe, as with authority; put in possession (of); endow; put more or less formally in occupation (of): followed by with.
  • To place or put in possession or at the disposal of; give or confer formally or legally an immediate fixed right of present or future possession, occupancy, or enjoyment of; commit to: followed by in.
  • To lay out, as money or capital; invest: as, to vest money in land. [Rare.] Imp. Dict.
  • To put on clothing or vestments.
  • To come or descend; devolve; take effect, as a title or right: with in.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To come or descend; to be fixed; to take effect, as a title or right; -- followed by in.
  • transitive verb To clothe with, or as with, a vestment, or garment; to dress; to robe; to cover, surround, or encompass closely.
  • transitive verb To clothe with authority, power, or the like; to put in possession; to invest; to furnish; to endow; -- followed by with before the thing conferred.
  • transitive verb To place or give into the possession or discretion of some person or authority; to commit to another; -- with in before the possessor.
  • transitive verb rare To invest; to put.
  • transitive verb (Law) To clothe with possession; ; also, to give a person an immediate fixed right of present or future enjoyment of.
  • noun An article of clothing covering the person; an outer garment; a vestment; a dress; a vesture; a robe.
  • noun Any outer covering; array; garb.
  • noun Specifically, a waistcoat, or sleeveless body garment, for men, worn under the coat.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A loose robe or outer garment worn historically by men in Arabic or Middle Eastern countries.
  • noun A sleeveless garment that buttons down the front, worn over a shirt, and often as part of a suit; a waistcoat.
  • noun UK A sleeveless garment, often with a low-cut neck, usually worn under a shirt or blouse.
  • noun A sleeveless top, typically with identifying colours or logos, worn by an athlete or member of a sports team.
  • noun Any sleeveless outer garment, often for a purpose such as identification, safety, or storage.
  • verb : (commonly used of financial arrangements) To become vested, to become permanent.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb clothe oneself in ecclesiastical garments
  • verb clothe formally; especially in ecclesiastical robes
  • verb place (authority, property, or rights) in the control of a person or group of persons
  • noun a man's sleeveless garment worn underneath a coat
  • noun a collarless men's undergarment for the upper part of the body
  • verb provide with power and authority
  • verb become legally vested

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French veste, robe, from Italian vesta, from Latin vestis, garment; see wes- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French veste ("a vest, jacket"), from Latin vestis ("a garment, gown, robe, vestment, clothing, vesture").

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Examples

Comments

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  • When is a vest a vest and when is it a singlet?

    August 27, 2008

  • I think vests are generally buttoned up the front (or fastened in some other way), whereas singlets don't fasten. (Isn't that right? They're what we call in the U.S. tank tops.)

    August 27, 2008