finance

Etymology

From Middle English finaunce, from Anglo-Norman, Middle French finance, from finer (“to pay ransom”) (whence also English fine (“to pay a penalty”)), from fin (“end”), from Latin fīnis. Original English sense c. 1400 was “ending”. Sense of “ending/satisfying a debt” came from French influence: in sense of “ransom” mid 15th century, in sense of “taxation” late 15th century. In sense of “manage money” first recorded 1770.

noun

1. The management of money and other assets.
   And statesmen as well ought to know these things; for a state is often as much in want of money and of such devices for obtaining it as a household, or even more so; hence some public men devote themselves entirely to finance. 4th century BCE, Aristotle, Politics, volume book I, part XI; republished as John Alexander Smith, William David Ross, transl., The works of Aristotle translated into English, volume 10, 1908
   Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend. 2013-06-01, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71
2. The science of management of money and other assets.
3. (usually in the plural) Monetary resources, especially those of a public entity or a company.
   Who's really in charge of a democracy's finances?
4. The provision of a loan, payment instalment terms, or similar arrangement, to enable a customer to purchase an item without paying the full amount straight away.
   Finance on all our new cars is provided by ABC Loans Ltd.

verb

1. (intransitive) To conduct, or procure money for, financial operations; manage finances.
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To pay ransom.
3. (transitive) To manage financially; be financier for; provide or obtain funding for a transaction or undertaking.
   His parents financed his college education.
   He financed his home purchase through a local credit union.
   Therefore, when assets are examined together with other problems, such as one-sided contracts or delays in payment, the argument for financing construction projects is substantially weakened. 1995, A. D. F. Price, Financing International Projects, page 3
   2000, G. Colombo, Sanctions and remedies in cases of illegal financing of political parties, Trading in Influence and the Illegal Financing of Political Parties, Third European Conference of Specialised Services in the Fight against Corruption, page 64, Indeed, it is a crime to finance or make contributions in any form to political parties, their factions, parliamentary groups, i.e. members of the Italian parliament (if they are Italian) and the European parliament, regional, provincial and town councillors, candidates in such offices, party leaders: […] .
   This is not a historical novel yet it is in a sense historical and contained within this book is a true story of how America was financed. 2011, Thomas W. Dombroski, How America Was Financed, page xi
4. (transitive, obsolete) To extort ransom from.