A vest with a billion pockets is a very handy garment.
On some days, I empty my attache-case into my vest, and bask in the warm feeling of being totally equipped with
  1. notebook
  2. camera
  3. pens
  4. mints:
  5. handkerchief
  6. pocket knife and pen
  7. reading material
  8. Palm V and keyboard
  9. cigar, cigar cutter, lighter
and having free hands at the same time.

When buying a vest, get one that also has a large, side opened, pocket in the back. Hunters use it for quarry, but you may find it useful for a sweater, or for some other item you don't mind sitting upon.
At security checks, it is convenient to just dump the vest and all the metal gear it contains into the X-ray machine, and be done with the stupid beeping.

Paired with cargo pants (the kind that has large thigh pockets), a good vest can turn you into a human cargo. It may also get funny looks.

When referring to stock options, an option is said to vest when holder becomes able to exercise the option--to buy a number of shares of a company's stock at a previously-set strike price. The holder can choose whether to hold the stock or to sell it, presumably at a profit. Vesting usually occurs at a specified date following the granting of the option. Prior to the vesting date, the stock is held in reserve by the company granting the option.

It's worth noting that, in clothing terms, the writeups above give the American definition of 'vest'. This appears to be some kind of sporting jacket with pockets, commonly worn by backwoods types.

In the UK, a vest is a close-fitting, sleeveless, buttonless garment which slips on underneath a shirt. Vests are almost always white. A vest's purpose is three-fold; firstly, it provides warmth, secondly, it helps to absorb perspiration, and thirdly, it prevents a man's nipples from showing through thin cotton shirts. According to... (puts finger in ear)... informed sources... the US equivalent of a British vest is called a 'singlet' or an 'undershirt'.

The stereotypical outfit of a drunken bum (such as Gregor Fisher's popular 'Rab C. Nesbitt' character) consists of a ripped jacket and a stained string vest (a string vest being similar to chainmail, but made of string). For some reason, vests are associated with the North of England.

Sports vests are similar, but thicker, and usually have logos.

Vest (?), n. [L. vestis a garment, vesture; akin to Goth. wasti, and E. wear: cf. F. veste. See Wear to carry on the person, and cf. Divest, Invest, Travesty.]

1.

An article of clothing covering the person; an outer garment; a vestment; a dress; a vesture; a robe.

In state attended by her maiden train, Who bore the vests that holy rites require. Dryden.

2.

Any outer covering; array; garb.

Not seldom clothed in radiant vest Deceitfully goes forth the morn. Wordsworth.

3.

Specifically, a waistcoat, or sleeveless body garment, for men, worn under the coat.

Syn. -- Garment; vesture; dress; robe; vestment; waistcoat. -- Vest, Waistcoat. In England, the original word waistcoat is generally used for the body garment worn over the shirt and immediately under the coat. In the United States this garment is commonly called a vest, and the waistcoat is often improperly given to an under-garment.

 

© Webster 1913.


Vest, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Vested; p. pr. & vb. n. Vesting.] [Cf. L. vestire, vestitum, OF. vestir, F. vetir. See Vest, n.]

1.

To clothe with, or as with, a vestment, or garment; to dress; to robe; to cover, surround, or encompass closely.

Came vested all in white, pure as her mind. Milton.

With ether vested, and a purple sky. Dryden.

2.

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; as, to vest a court with power to try cases of life and death.

Had I been vested with the monarch's power. Prior.

3.

To place or give into the possession or discretion of some person or authority; to commit to another; -- with in before the possessor; as, the power of life and death is vested in the king, or in the courts.

Empire and dominion was [were] vested in him. Locke.

4.

To invest; to put; as, to vest money in goods, land, or houses.

[R.]

5. Law

To clothe with possession; as, to vest a person with an estate; also, to give a person an immediate fixed right of present or future enjoyment of; as, an estate is vested in possession.

Bouvier.

 

© Webster 1913.


Vest (?), v. i.

To come or descend; to be fixed; to take effect, as a title or right; -- followed by in; as, upon the death of the ancestor, the estate, or the right to the estate, vests in the heir at law.

 

© Webster 1913.

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