Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FI-NANCE, n. [finans'; Fr. and Norm. finance; Arm. financz, fine, subsidy. Finance is from fine, in the sense of a sum of money paid by the subject to the king for the enjoyment of a privilege, a feudal sense. Hence finance was originally revenue arising from fines. See Fine.]

Revenue; income of a king or state. Bacon. The United States, near the close of the revolution, appointed a superintendent of finance. [It is more generally used in the plural.]