Definition of "investiture"

investiture

noun
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.
  Quotations
  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.
  1882, Albert Mackey, “The Rite of Investiture”, in The Symbolism of Freemasonry
2. (specifically, chiefly historical) The formal installation or, generally, the appointment of a bishop, or (uncountable) bishops in general.
  Quotations
  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.
  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
  […] 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.
  1958, Norman Cantor, Church, Kingship, and Lay Investiture in England, 1089–1135, page 157
  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 […]
  2009, Christian Frost, Time, Space, and Order: The Making of Medieval Salisbury, page 26
3. That which invests or clothes; covering; vestment.
4. (Spanish politics) The parliamentary vote required to inaugurate the Prime Minister of Spain.
  Quotations
  The Spanish constitution dictates that the king is obliged to dissolve the legislative body two months after the first failed investiture vote.
  2023 July 24, Aitor Hernández-Morales, “Sánchez's tricky road to victory after shock Spanish election result”, in Politico‎, retrieved 2023-08-06