borrow

See also Borrow

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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)

Verb

borrow (third-person singular simple present borrows, present participle borrowing, simple past and past participle borrowed)

  1. To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it.
  2. To adopt (an idea) as one's own.
  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, James P. Leary editor, Wisconsin Folklore[1], University of Wisconsin Press, ISBN 9780299160340, published 1998, Milwaukee Talk, page 56:
      “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[2], Trafford Publishing, ISBN 9781412025362, page 83:
      “Ryan, borrow me your lunch pail so we can fill it with blueberries. Susie can make us a pie.”
    • 2006, Andrés Rueda, The Clawback[3], Andres Rueda, ISBN 9781419647680, Chapter 13, page 131:
      Georgi reached for his empty pockets. “Can you borrow me your telephone?”
    • 2007, Silvia Cecchini, Bach Flowers Fairytales[4], Lulu.com, ISBN 9781847533203, page 7:
      “Gaia, could you borrow me your pencils ,[sic] 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”, NPR_Weekend:
      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.
Synonyms
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
Translations
receive temporarily
adopt (an idea) as one's own
to copy a word from another language
in a subtraction

Noun

borrow (plural borrows)

  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.
Translations
deviation of a rolling golfball

Etymology 2

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

Noun

borrow (plural borrows)

  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.”
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Last modified on 19 May 2013, at 23:29