Revesting

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process of restoring or reallocating assets or ownership rights that had been surrendered
2. The act of reestablishing a financial interest or claim over previously forfeited or transferred property
3. An administrative action involving the return or reinvestment of funds into a particular venture or entity

Etymology: "Revesting" is the present participle of "revest," which describes the act of putting someone back into possession of something taken away, such as property or rights. The verb is a clothing metaphor at its core: "revest" comes from Anglo-Norman "revestir," Middle French "revestir," and Late Latin "revestire," built from the prefix re- ("again") and a verb meaning "to clothe." Legal language borrowed the image of dressing someone again in an estate they had lost. The clothing sense came first and is still visible in the Latin. Late Latin "revestire" meant to dress again or to put a garment back on, and the same picture of wrapping something once more carried into the law courts of medieval France and England. Property that had been forfeited or taken was imagined as a garment stripped away, and restoring it meant putting that garment back on the owner.