(verb) – To capitalize with a view to the production of interest Stephen v. Mil nor, 24 N. J. Eq. 376. Also, to put into the form of bonds, stocks, or other securities, bearing regular interest, and to provide or appropriate a fund or permanent revenue for the payment thereof. Merrill v. Monticello (C. C.) 22 Fed. 596. Funded debt. To fund a debt is to pledge a specific fund to keep down the interest and reduce the principal. The term “fund” was originally applied to a portion of the national ^revenue set apart or pledged to the payment of a particular debt. Hence, as applied to the pecuniary obligations of states or municipal corporations, a funded debt is sone for the payment of which (interest and principal) some fund is appropriated, either specifically, or by provision made for future taxation and the quasi pledging in advance of the public revenue. Ketchum v. Buffalo, 14 N. Y. 356; People v. Carpenter, 31 App. Div. 603, 52 N. Y. Supp. 781. As applied to the financial management of corporations (and sometimes of estates in course of administration or properties under receivership) funding means the borrowing of a sufficient sum of money to discharge a variety of floating or unsecured debts, or debts evidenced by notes or secured by bonds but maturing within a short time, and creating a new debt in lieu thereof, secured by a general mortgage, a series of bonds, or an issue of stock, generally maturing at a more remote period, and often at a lower rate of interest. The new debt thus substituted for the pre existing debts is called the “funded debt.” See Ketchum v. Buffalo, 14 N. Y. 356; People v. Carpenter, 31 App. Div. 603, 52 N. Y. Supp. 781; Lawrey v. Sterling, 41 Or. 518, 69 Pac. 460. This term is very seldom applied to the debts of a private individual; but when so used it must be understood as referring to a debt embodied in securities of a permanent character and to the payment of which certain property has been applied or pledged. Wells v. Wells (Super. N. Y.) 24 N. Y. Supp. 874. Funding system. The practice of borrowing money to defray the expenses of government, and creating a “sinking fund,” designed to keep down interest, and to effect the gradual reduction of the principal debt Merrill v. Monticello (C. C.) 22 Fed. 596.
(noun) – A sum of money set apart for a specific purpose, or available for the payment of debts or claims. In its narrower and more usual sense, “fund” signifies “capital,” as opposed to “interest” or “income;” as where we speak of a corporation funding the arrears of interest due on its bonds, or the like, meaning that the interest is capitalized and made to bear interest in its turn until it is repaid. Sweet. 1. Money in hand; cash; money available for the payment of a debt, legacy, etc. Galena Ins. Co. t. Kupfer, 28 111. 335, 81 Am. Dec. 284. 2.. The proceeds of sales of real and personal estate, or the proceeds of any other assets converted Into money. Doane v. Insurance Co., 43 N. J. Eq. 533, 11 Atl. 739. 3. Corporate stocks or government securities; in this sense usually spoken of as the “funds.” 4. Assets, securities, bonds, or revenue of a state or government appropriated for the discharge of its debts. No funds. This term denotes a lack of assets or money for a specific use. It is the return made by a bank to a check drawn upon it by a person who has no deposit to his credit there; also by an executor, trustee, etc., who has no assets for the specific purpose. Public funds. An untechnical name for (1) the revenue or money of a government, state, or municipal corporation; (2) the bonds, stocks, or other securities of a national or state government. Sinking fund. The aggregate of sums of money (as those arising from particular taxes or sources of revenue) set apart and invested, usually at fixed intervals, for the extinguishment of the debt of a government or corporation, by the accumulation of interest. Elser v. Ft Worth (Tex. Civ. App.) 27 S. W. 740; Union Pac. R. Co. v. Buffalo County Com’rs, 9 Neb. 449, 4 N. W. 53; Brooke v. Philadelphia, 162 Pa. 123, 29 Atl. 387, 24 L. R. A. 781. General fund. This phrase, in New York, is a collective designation of all the assets of the state which furnish the means for the support of government and for defraying the discretionary appropriations of the legislature. People v. Orange County Sup’rs, 27 Barb. (N. Y.) 575, 588.