BORROW • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Borrow

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/bˈɑrˌoʊ/ Listen

verb

Borrow v. t. (past & past part. borrowed; pres. part. borrowing)

1.

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.

(Arith.) 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.

To copy or imitate; to adopt; as, to borrow the style, manner, or opinions of another. "Rites borrowed from the ancients." "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."

4.

To feign or counterfeit. "Borrowed hair." "The borrowed majesty of England."

5.

To receive; to take; to derive. "Any drop thou borrowedst from thy mother."

To borrow trouble, to be needlessly troubled; to be overapprehensive.

noun

Borrow n.

1.

Something deposited as security; a pledge; a surety; a hostage. (Obs.) "Ye may retain as borrows my two priests."

2.

The act of borrowing. (Obs.) "Of your royal presence I'll adventure The borrow of a week."

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Etymology of 'Borrow'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Borrow" Quotes from Famous Books

... Jewish burial customs, "those who bestow a marble stone over any [grave] have a hole a yard long and a foot broad, in which they plant an evergreen, which seems to grow from the body, and is carefully watched." Hasselquist (Travels, p. 28) confirms his testimony. I borrow the citations from Brown (Antiquities of the Jews, vol. ii. p. 356), but have verified the reference to Hasselquist. The work of Blount I have ...

— The Symbolism of Freemasonry • Albert G. Mackey

... fame fadeless live, as 'never-sere' The Ivy wreathes yon Oak, whose broad defence Embowers me from Noon's sultry influence! 5 For, like that nameless Rivulet stealing by, Your modest verse to musing Quiet dear Is rich with tints heaven-borrow'd: the charm'd eye Shall gaze undazzled there, ...

— The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Vol I and II • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

... heralds passing thence shall come even to Ingra, to Ingra where they dance. And there they shall tell of thee, so that thy name long hence shall be sung in that joyous city. And there they shall borrow camels and pass over the sands and go by desert ways to distant Nirid to tell of thee to the lonely men in the ...

— Fifty-One Tales • Lord Dunsany [Edward J. M. D. Plunkett]

... of some money, so he filled two chests with sand and sent word to two wealthy money lenders that he wished to borrow six hundred Spanish marks (about $2,000 [as of 1904]), and would put into their hands his treasures of silver and gold which were packed in two chests, but the money lenders must solemnly swear not to open the chests until a full year had passed. To this they gladly agreed. ...

— Famous Men of The Middle Ages • John H. Haaren, LL.D. and A. B. Poland, Ph.D.

... have an exhibition of cats. I will borrow Aunt May's old tabby, and John's big Tom, and Lulie Bell's five white kittens, and we have our own, and you can get others, and we will rig up a room in the barn, and put placards up, and I will tie bright ribbons on all their necks, and we'll charge ten cents for grown people and five cents for ...

— Harper's Young People, December 9, 1879 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various

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