an investment trust that owns and manages a pool of
commercial properties and mortgages and other real estate assets; shares can be bought and sold in the stock market Synonym(s):Real Estate Investment Trust, REIT
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Reit \Reit\ (r?t), n.
Sedge; seaweed. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]