the management of revenues; the conduct or transaction of money matters generally, esp. those affecting the public, as in the fields of banking and investment.
2.
finances, the monetary resources, as of a government, company, organization, or individual; revenue.
–verb (used with object)
3.
to supply with money or capital; obtain money or credit for.
–verb (used without object)
4.
to raise money or capital needed for financial operations.
[Origin: 1350–1400; ME finaunce < AF, MF finance, equiv. to fin(er) to end, settle, pay (see fine2) + -ance-ance]
c.1400, "an end," from M.Fr. finance "ending, settlement of a debt," from M.L. finis "a payment in settlement, fine or tax," from L. finis "end." The notion is of "ending" (by satisfying) something that is due (cf. Gk. telos "end;" pl. tele "services due, dues exacted by the state, financial means." See also fine (n.)). The Fr. senses were gradually brought into Eng.: "ransom" (1439), "taxation" (1489); the sense of "manage money" first recorded in Eng. 1770. Finances "pecuniary resources" is from 1781. Financier is from 1618, originally of Fr. tax farmers; sense of "capitalist" is first recorded 1867.
Fi*nance"\, n. [F., fr. LL. financia payment of money, money, fr. finare to pay a fine or subsidy (cf. OF. finer to finish, pay), fr. L. finis end. See Fine, n., Finish.]1. The income of a ruler or of a state; revennue; public money; sometimes, the income of an individual; often used in the plural for funds; available money; resources. All the finances or revenues of the imperial crown. --Bacon. 2. The science of raising and expending the public revenue. "Versed in the details of finance." --Macaulay.
Fine\, n. [OE. fin, L. finis end, also in LL., a final agreement or concord between the lord and his vassal; a sum of money paid at the end, so as to make an end of a transaction, suit, or prosecution; mulct; penalty; cf. OF. fin end, settlement, F. fin end. See Finish, and cf. Finance.]1. End; conclusion; termination; extinction. [Obs.] "To see their fatal fine." --Spenser. Is this the fine of his fines? --Shak. 2. A sum of money paid as the settlement of a claim, or by way of terminating a matter in dispute; especially, a payment of money imposed upon a party as a punishment for an offense; a mulct. 3. (Law) (a) (Feudal Law) A final agreement concerning lands or rents between persons, as the lord and his vassal. --Spelman. (b) (Eng. Law) A sum of money or price paid for obtaining a benefit, favor, or privilege, as for admission to a copyhold, or for obtaining or renewing a lease. Fine for alienation (Feudal Law), a sum of money paid to the lord by a tenant whenever he had occasion to make over his land to another. --Burrill. Fine of lands, a species of conveyance in the form of a fictitious suit compromised or terminated by the acknowledgment of the previous owner that such land was the right of the other party. --Burrill. See Concord, n., 4. In fine, in conclusion; by way of termination or summing up.
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