What does borrow mean?

Definitions for borrow
ˈbɒr oʊ, ˈbɔr oʊbor·row

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word borrow.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. borrowverb

    get temporarily

    "May I borrow your lawn mower?"

  2. adopt, borrow, take over, take upverb

    take up and practice as one's own

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Borrownoun

    The thing borrowed.

    Etymology: from the verb.

    Yet of your royal presence I’ll adventure
    The borrow of a week. William Shakespeare, Winter’s Tale.

  2. To BORROWverb

    Etymology: borgen, Dutch; borgian, Saxon.

    He borrowed a box of the ear of the Englishman, and swore he would pay him again when he was able. William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice.

    We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. Neh. v. 4.

    Then he said, go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours. 2 Kings, iv. 3.

    Where darkness and surprize made conquest cheap!
    Where virtue borrowed the arms of chance,
    And struck a random blow! John Dryden, Span. Friar.

    A borrow’d title hast thou bought too dear;
    Why didst thou tell me that thou wert a king? William Shakespeare, H. IV.

    They may borrow something of instruction even from their past guilt. Decay of Piety.

    I was engaged in the translation of Virgil, from whom I have borrowed only two months. John Dryden, Dufresn.

    These verbal signs they sometimes borrow from others, and sometimes make themselves; as one may observe among the new names children give to things. John Locke.

    Some persons of bright parts have narrow remembrance; for having riches of their own, they are not solicitous to borrow. Isaac Watts, Improvement of the Mind.

    Unkind and cruel, to deceive your son
    In borrow’d shapes, and his embrace to shun. John Dryden, Æn.

ChatGPT

  1. borrow

    Borrow refers to the act of taking or receiving something from someone with the intention of returning it after a certain period of time. It often refers to a formal understanding where money, goods or services are lent, often with the expectation of being repaid with interest in case of financial borrowing. It can also refer to adopting or taking on concepts, ideas, words, styles from another person, source or culture.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Borrowverb

    to receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; -- the opposite of lend

  2. Borrowverb

    to take (one or more) from the next higher denomination in order to add it to the next lower; -- a term of subtraction when the figure of the subtrahend is larger than the corresponding one of the minuend

  3. Borrowverb

    to copy or imitate; to adopt; as, to borrow the style, manner, or opinions of another

  4. Borrowverb

    to feign or counterfeit

  5. Borrowverb

    to receive; to take; to derive

  6. Borrownoun

    something deposited as security; a pledge; a surety; a hostage

  7. Borrownoun

    the act of borrowing

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Borrow

    bor′ō, v.t. to obtain on loan or trust: to adopt from a foreign source: to derive one's authority from another (with from, of).—p.adj. Borr′owed, taken on loan, counterfeit, assumed.—n. Borr′ower.—Borrowing days, the last three days of March (O.S.), supposed in Scotch folklore to have been borrowed by March from April, and to be especially stormy. [A.S. borgianborg, borh, a pledge, security.]

The Foolish Dictionary, by Gideon Wurdz

  1. BORROW

    v. t., to swap hot air for cold coin.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. BORROW

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Borrow is ranked #84748 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Borrow surname appeared 221 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Borrow.

    80% or 177 total occurrences were White.
    9.9% or 22 total occurrences were Black.
    4.9% or 11 total occurrences were of two or more races.
    4% or 9 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'borrow' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2002

  2. Verbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'borrow' in Verbs Frequency: #563

How to pronounce borrow?

How to say borrow in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of borrow in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of borrow in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of borrow in a Sentence

  1. Brian Riedl:

    Students will likely feel liberated to borrow more money on the resumption of future loan forgiveness, and universities will take advantage of the additional borrowing by raising tuition, this is pretty similar to the fact that historically 60% of all student aid increases have been captured with tuition hikes, and this will be treated like an increase in student aid moving forward, which suggests that 60% will be countered by tuition hikes.

  2. Sajid Javid:

    Record low interest rates - you can take advantage of that as a government when you can borrow at negative interest rates for 30 years and put it into economic infrastructure.

  3. Tom Cotter:

    The car’s top had survived 53 years unscathed, but couldn’t make it 11 days in Alaska, i’ve got bigger problems, anyway. My clutch hydraulics went out, so I’ve convinced a guy to let me borrow his airplane hangar for a bit to fix things. I’ve got work to do.

  4. Chad Corby:

    He was on his front porch, screaming for help, he was tied and bound, covered in blood. He told me somebody came in, asked to borrow some money. He told them he could n’t do it. They did n’t like that answer, proceeded to beat the crap out of him, bound him, threw him in his tub, and caught his house on fire.

  5. Elizabeth Shermer:

    It really is going to be this expectation that you are going to need to borrow something to get through college, it’s like that perfect storm.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

borrow#10000#11358#100000

Translations for borrow

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

Get even more translations for borrow »

Translation

Find a translation for the borrow definition in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Word of the Day

Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?

Please enter your email address:


Citation

Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"borrow." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/borrow>.

Discuss these borrow definitions with the community:

0 Comments

    Are we missing a good definition for borrow? Don't keep it to yourself...

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Chrome

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Firefox

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Browse Definitions.net

    Quiz

    Are you a words master?

    »
    weak or sickly person especially one morbidly concerned with his or her health
    A inexpiable
    B valetudinarian
    C bonzer
    D bristly

    Nearby & related entries:

    Alternative searches for borrow: