borrow

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it.

   • Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.
2. 2

   To receive money from a bank or other lender under the agreement that the lender will be…

   To receive money from a bank or other lender under the agreement that the lender will be paid back over time.

3. 3

   To adopt (an idea) as one's own.

   • to borrow the style, manner, or opinions of another
   • It is not hard for any man, who hath a Bible in his hands, to borrow good words and holy sayings in abundance; but to make them his own is a work of grace only from above.
   • Dryden’s form is of course borrowed from the ancients
4. ›+ 15 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To adopt a word from another language.

      • Americans, for example, call newcomers to Antarctica “fingies”, which comes from FNGs – a borrowed military abbreviation that means “Fucking New Guy”.
   2. 5

      In a subtraction, to deduct (one) from a digit of the minuend and add ten to the…

      In a subtraction, to deduct (one) from a digit of the minuend and add ten to the following digit, in order that the subtraction of a larger digit in the subtrahend from the digit in the minuend to which ten is added gives a positive result.

   3. 6

      To lend.

      • “Rosie, borrow me your look looker, I bet my lips are all. Everytime^([sic]) I eat or drink, so quick I gotta fix ’em, yet.”
      • Samson, with all the cunning of a rhetorical master, cornered him. 'Then can my young son borrow me his old rifle?'
   4. 7

      To temporarily obtain (something) for (someone).

      • You must borrow me Garagantua's mouth first: 'tis a word too great for any mouth of this age's size: To say, ay, and no, to these particulars, is more than to answer in a catechism.
      • Yes, my lord, he told me this in my own house; and I told him he might go to esquire Tindal, and I lent him eighteen pence, and borrowed him a horse in the town.
      • I went out and borrowed him a night cap; put him my night shirt on, and wrapped him in a blanket.
   5. 8

      To feign or counterfeit.

      • borrowed hair
      • the borrowed majesty of England
   6. 9

      To secure the release of (someone) from prison.

      • But if ony maiden would borrow me, I would wed her wi' a ring, And a' my land and a' my houses, They should a' be at her command.
   7. 10

      To receive (something, usually of trifling value) from somebody, with little possibility…

      To receive (something, usually of trifling value) from somebody, with little possibility of returning it.

      • Can I borrow a sheet of paper?
   8. 11

      To interrupt the current activity of (a person) and lead them away in order to speak with…

      To interrupt the current activity of (a person) and lead them away in order to speak with them, get their help, etc.

      • John, can I borrow you for a second? I need your help with the copier.
   9. 12

      To adjust one's aim in order to compensate for the slope of the green.

   10. 13

       Deviation of the path of a rolling ball from a straight line

       Deviation of the path of a rolling ball from a straight line; slope; slant.

       • This putt has a big left-to right borrow on it.
       • The amount of borrow, as we term it, that must be taken from the side of any particular slope is entirely a matter of mathematical calculation, […]
       • […] slippery contours, so that in making a side hill putt more than the usual amount of borrow had to be considered.
   11. 14

       A borrow pit.

       • As previously indicated, slurry used for construction of the slurry cutoff trench at Beaver Creek Dam was produced with natural clays and clay tills from local borrows.
   12. 15

       In Rust and some other programming languages, the situation where the ownership of a…

       In Rust and some other programming languages, the situation where the ownership of a value is temporarily transferred to another region of code.

       • If we currently have any borrows of a value, we can't mutably borrow it into self, nor can we move it (because that would invalidate the existing borrows).
   13. 16

       A ransom

       A ransom; a pledge or guarantee.

   14. 17

       A surety

       A surety; someone standing bail.

   15. 18

       A surname.

       • George Borrow wrote novels and travelogues based on his experiences travelling around Europe.

The neighborhood

• synonymborrow
• synonymcreance
• synonymdesume
• synonymscunge
• antonymgive backantonym(s) of “receive temporarily”
• antonymlendantonym(s) of “receive temporarily”
• antonymreturnantonym(s) of “receive temporarily”
• antonymcarryantonym(s) of “in arithmetic”
• antonymbuy
• antonymtake
• neighborborrower
• neighborreceive
• neighbormortgage
• neighborhire
• neighborrent