Lend

Pronunciation

• enPR: lÄ•nd, IPA: /lÉ›nd/
• Rhymes: -É›nd

From Middle English lende (usually in plural as lendes, leendes, lyndes), from Old English lendenu, lendinu ("loins", plural.), from Proto-Germanic *landijō, *landį̄ ("loin"), from Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ- ("loin, kidney"). Cognate with Scots lend, leynd ("the loins, flank, buttocks"), Dutch lendenen ("loins, reins"), German Lenden ("loins"), Swedish länder ("loins"), Icelandic lendar ("loins"), Latin lumbus ("loin"), Russian лядвея (ljádveja, "thigh, haunch").

Alternative forms

• leynd, leind, lind Scotland
• lende obsolete

Full definition of lend

Noun

1. (anatomy, UK dialectal) The lumbar region; loin.
2. (UK dialectal, of a person or animal) The loins; flank; buttocks.

From earlier len (with excrescent -d, as in sound, round, etc.), from Middle English lenen, lænen, from Old English lǣnan ("to lend; give, grant, lease"), from Proto-Germanic *laihnijaną ("to loan"), from Proto-Germanic *laihną ("loan"), from Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- ("to leave, leave over"). Cognate with Scots len, lend ("to lend"), West Frisian liene ("to lend, borrow, loan"), Dutch lenen ("to lend, borrow, loan"), German lehnen ("to borrow, lend out, loan"), Swedish låna ("to lend, loan"), Icelandic lána ("to lend, loan"), Icelandic léna ("to grant"), Latin linquō ("quit, leave, forlet"), Ancient Greek λείπω (léipō, "leave, release"). See also loan.

Verb

1. (transitive) To allow to be used by someone temporarily, on condition that it or its equivalent will be returned.
• 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. I will only lend you my car if you fill up the tank.
   I lent her 10 euros to pay for the train tickets, and she paid me back the next day.
3. (intransitive) To make a loan.
4. (reflexive) To be suitable or applicable, to fit.
   Poems do not lend themselves to translation easily.
   The long history of the past does not lend itself to a simple black and white interpretation.
5. To afford; to grant or furnish in general.Can you lend me some assistance?The famous director lent his name to the new film.
• AddisonCato, lend me for a while thy patience.
• J. A. SymondsMountain lines and distant horizons lend space and largeness to his compositions.
6. (proscribed) To borrow.

Antonyms

• borrow

Derived terms

• lend to believe
• have a lend