investiture

From Middle French investiture, from Medieval Latin investītūra, from investīre (“to clothe”).

investiture (countable and uncountable, plural investitures)

1. The act of investing, as with possession or power; formal bestowal or presentation of a possessory or prescriptive right.
   • 1882, Albert Mackey, “The Rite of Investiture”, in The Symbolism of Freemasonry:

     The rite of investiture, called, in the colloquially technical language of the order, the ceremony of clothing, brings us at once to the consideration of that well-known symbol of Freemasonry, the LAMB-SKIN APRON. This rite of investiture, or the placing upon the aspirant some garment, as an indication of his appropriate preparation for the ceremonies in which he was about to engage, prevailed in all the ancient initiations.

2. (specifically, chiefly historical) The formal installation or, generally, the appointment of a bishop, or (uncountable) bishops in general.
   • 1668, A Seasonable Vindication of the Supreme Authority and Jurisdiction of Christian Kings, Lords, Parliaments, as well over the Possessions, as Persons of Delinquent Prelates and Church-men, page 72:

     Raynelmus the 30. Bishop of Hereford receiving his investiture from King Henry the first, by the delivery of a Ring and Crosier, according to the Law and Custom of that Age, and afterwards resigning them into the Kings hands again to pleasure Anselme, against the Kings Prerogative, the King was so highly offended with him (as he had just cause) that he presently banished him the Realm, and seised his Temporalties.

   • 1958, Norman Cantor, Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture in England, 1089–1135, page 157:

     […] it was apparent by the latter part of 1101 that only a sudden change of heart by Paschal would prevent a controversy over lay investiture in England similar to the dispute which had racked Germany for a quarter of a century.

   • 2009, Christian Frost, Time, Space, and Order: The Making of Medieval Salisbury, →ISBN, page 26:

     By the eleventh century, sacred kingship within the west was separated from the hierarchies of church rule. Investiture battles and power struggles between the two systems continued on for many centuries […]

3. That which invests or clothes; covering; vestment.
4. (Spanish politics) The parliamentary vote required to inaugurate the Prime Minister of Spain.
   • 2023 July 24, Aitor Hernández-Morales, “Sánchez's tricky road to victory after shock Spanish election result”, in Politico‎, retrieved 2023-08-06:

     The Spanish constitution dictates that the king is obliged to dissolve the legislative body two months after the first failed investiture vote.

• lay investiture

• “investiture”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “investiture”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “investiture”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• Investiture in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Inherited from Middle French, borrowed from Medieval Latin investītūra. Displaced Old French envesture.

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.vɛs.ti.tyʁ/

• Audio:

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investiture f (plural investitures)

1. investiture
2. (politics) inauguration

• “investiture”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

investiture f

1. plural of investitura

investītūre

1. vocative masculine singular of investītūrus