Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FUND, n. [Fr. fond; Sp. fondo, funda; L. fundus, ground, bottom, foundation; connected with L. fundo, to found, the sense of which is to throw down, to set, to lay; Ir. bon or bun, bottom; Heb. Ch. Syr. בנה, Ar. بَنَا bana, to build. Class Bn, No. 7. The L. funda, a sling, a casting net or purse, It. fonda, is from the same source.]

1. A stock or capital; a sum of money appropriated as the foundation of some commercial or other operation, undertaken with a view to profit, and by means of which expenses and credit are supported. Thus the capital stock of a banking institution is called its fund; the joint stock of a commercial or manufacturing house constitutes its fund or funds; and hence the word is applied to the money which an individual may possess, or the means he can employ for carrying on any enterprise or operation. No prudent man undertakes an expensive business without funds.
2. Money lent to government, constituting a national debt; or the stock of a national debt. Thus we say, a man is interested in the funds or public funds, when he owns the stock or the evidences of the public debt; and the funds are said to rise or fall, when a given amount of that debt sells for more or less in the market.
3. Money or income destined to the payment of the interest of a debt.
4. A sinking fund is a sum of money appropriated to the purchase of the public stocks or the payment of the public debt.
5. A stock or capital to afford supplies of any kind; as, a fund of wisdom or good sense; a fund of wit. Hence,
6. Abundance; ample stock or store.