fund1 (fund)

[In lit. sense also fond (see fond4 ), fund being accom. to the L. form; The parliament went on slowly in fixing the fund for the supplies they had voted. Bp. Burnet, Hist. Own Times, an. 1698 3. A store of anything to be drawn upon at pleasure; a stock or main source of supply: especially, an equipment of specific mental resources; a stock of knowledge or mental endowment of any kind: as, a fund of wisdom or good sense; a jund of anecdote. fund I was last night visited by a friend of mine, who has an in exhaust able fund of discourse, and never fails to entertain his company with a variety of thoughts and hints that are altogether new and uncommon. Add is on, Adventures of a Shilling. Tom's severity gave her a certain fund of defiance. George Eliot , Mill on the Flo , v. 5. Giraldus Cam brens is had a fund of humour and cleverne that is as noteworthy as his extensive reading. Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 120. Alimentary fund. See alimentary. - Company fund, in the United States army, the savings arising from the economical use of the rations of a company, placed in the hands of the company commander, and used only for the benefit of the enlisted men of the company. Consolidated funds. See consolidated . - In funds, in po e ion of available means or resources. - In the fundt, at bot tom. Davies . I know madam does fret you a little now and then, that's true ; but in the fund she is the softest, sweetest, gentlest lady breathing. Sir J. Vanbrugh , Confederacy, iv. On or out of one's own fundt, on one's own account. Davies. The translating most of the French letters gave me as much trouble as if I had written them out of my own fund. Tom Brown , Works, I. 171. I took to him for his resemblance to you, but am grown to love him upon his own fund . Walpole , Letters, II. 130. Post fund, in the United States army, the savings from the allowance of flour at a post bakery, used to defray the expenses of the bakery, for the purchase of garden-seeds, and for the support of post schools, etc. - Public funds, securities i ued by a government in return for loans, at a fixed rate of interest, and usually for a definite term of years, in the form of negotiable or transferable bonds of different amounts. Often called simply the funds. - Regimental fund, in the United States army, 50 per cent, of the post fund, after deducting the expenses of the bak ery, divided pro rata among the regiments represented by companies at the post, and paid over to the several reg i. mental treasurers for the maintenance of the bands. Sinking-fund, a fund formed by a government or corporation for the gradual "sinking," wiping out, or reduction of its debt, by various devices for the accumulation of money. (See fund1, v., 2, end.) The first sinking-fund was established by Sir Robert Walpole in England in 1716. - The funds, originally, in Great Britain, the product of particular taxes, as customs, excise, stamp, etc., pledged by the government for the payment of particular loans and the interest on the same; now, the national or public debt, or the stocks which represent it: as, to have money consolidated). in the funds. See consols, and consolidated funds (under fund1 (fund), v. t. [ Strata of soil fitted to retain heat and fund it, or to disDe Quincey, Hero dot us. perse it and cool it. 2. To convert (a floating debt) into capital or stock, or into a more or le permanent debt, represented by bonds for definite sums, bearing interest at a fixed rate, and commonly redeemable within a fixed period of years. That part of the indebtedne of a government or corporation which is payable immediately or soon, so that early provision for payment must be made or forbearance obtained, is called the floating debt. To fund such an indebtedne is cancel it by inducing the creditor to take in its place obligations having considerable time to run, and i ued, in convenient portions or shares, in the form of interest bearing bonds or certificates available to the holder as marketable securities; or by procuring a fresh loan on the i ue of such obligations, and using the proceeds to pay off the floating indebtedne . To refund a debt is to repeat this proce when the time obtained by the funding expires. The funded debt of a body politic or corporate is the aggregate of the debt thus provided for. It is approximately the same in amount as the old debt, unle it is increased, as is often the case, by including in it the expenses of funding, or by i uing the obligations below par. The funded debts of governments are spoken of as the public funds, and the securities i ued are spoken of as stocks or bonds. Such securities, when i ued by corporations, are usually spoken of in the United States as bonds (the word stocks being applied to shares, which do not represent the debt of a corporation, but ownership 2409