Finance (French)
. Revenue derived from fines or subsidies. In feudal times finance was money paid to a lord for a privilege. In the plural we use the word to signify available money resources. Thus we say, “My finances are exhausted,” meaning I have no more funds or available money.
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Entry taken from
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,
edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.