The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Funding \Fund"ing\, a.
   1. Providing a fund for the payment of the interest or
      principal of a debt.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Investing in the public funds.
      [1913 Webster]

   Funding system, a system or scheme of finance or revenue by
      which provision is made for paying the interest or
      principal of a public debt.
      [1913 Webster]

Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

FUNDING SYSTEM, Eng. law. The name given to a plan which provides that on
the creation of a public loan, funds shall immediately be formed, and
secured by law, for the payment of the interest, until the state shall
redeem the whole, and also for the gradual redemption of the capital itself.
This gradual redemption of the capital is called the sinking of the debt,
and the fund so appropriated is called the sinking fund.