Borrow

Pronunciation

• UK enPR: bŏrʹō, IPA: /ˈbÉ’rəʊ/
• US enPR: bärʹō, IPA: /ˈbÉ‘roÊŠ/ especially Canadian IPA: /ˈbÉ”roÊŠ/
• Rhymes: -ɒɹəʊ

From Middle English borwen, borȝien, Old English borgian ("to borrow, lend, pledge surety for"), from Proto-Germanic *burgōną ("to pledge, take care of"), from Proto-Indo-European *bhergh- ("to take care"). Cognate with Dutch borgen ("to borrow, trust"), German borgen ("to borrow, lend"), Danish borge ("to vouch"). Related to Old English beorgan ("to save, preserve"). More at bury.

Alternative forms

• boro Jamaican English

Full definition of borrow

Verb

1. To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it.
• 2013-06-01, End of the peer show, 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. To adopt (an idea) as one's own.to borrow the style, manner, or opinions of another
• Macaulayrites borrowed from the ancients
• MiltonIt 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.
3. (linguistics) To adopt a word from another language.
4. (arithmetic) 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.
5. (proscribed) To lend.
• 1951, The Grenadiers, Wisconsin Folklore, “Rosie, borrow me your look looker, I bet my lips are all. Everytime I eat or drink, so quick I gotta fix ’em, yet.”
• 2005, Gladys Blyth, Summer at the Cannery, “Ryan, borrow me your lunch pail so we can fill it with blueberries. Susie can make us a pie.”
• 2006, Andrés Rueda, The Clawback, Georgi reached for his empty pockets. “Can you borrow me your telephone?”
• 2007, Silvia Cecchini, Bach Flowers Fairytales, “Gaia, could you borrow me your pencils , today, if you do not use them?”
6. (double transitive, US, dialect) To temporarily obtain (something) for (someone).
• 1999, August 1, Ronnie Dawson, Singer, Comments on his Career and Music, My folks couldn't afford a guitar, so my dad borrowed me a mandolin one time, and I was just learning to play it pretty good and the guy that he borrowed it from wanted it back.
7. To feign or counterfeit.
• Spenserborrowed hair
• Shakespearethe borrowed majesty of England

Synonyms

• (adopt) adopt, use

Antonyms

• (receive temporarily) give back (exchanging the transfer of ownership), lend (exchanging the owners), return (exchanging the transfer of ownership)
• (in arithmetic) carry (the equivalent reverse procedure in the inverse operation of addition)

Derived terms

• borrowed time
• borrower

Noun

1. (golf) 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.

From Old English borg, from Proto-Germanic (related to Etymology 1, above).

Noun

1. (archaic) A ransom; a pledge or guarantee.
2. (archaic) A surety; someone standing bail.
• 1819, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe:”where am I to find such a sum? If I sell the very pyx and candlesticks on the altar at Jorvaulx, I shall scarce raise the half; and it will be necessary for that purpose that I go to Jorvaulx myself; ye may retain as borrows my two priests.”