BORROWING • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Borrowing

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/bˈɑroʊɪŋ/ Listen

verb

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

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.

(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.

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."

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

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

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

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Etymology of 'Borrowing'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Borrowing" Quotes from Famous Books

... on the contrary, there is plenty of prima facie evidence that he largely utilized Balzac's material and method; and there is evidence also that Balzac utilized, though in a less degree, the subjects developed by Hugo. The reciprocal borrowing is easy to explain, both men, in spite of their fundamental peculiarities, having much in them that was common—imagination difficult to control, fondness for exaggeration, language prone to be verbose and turgid, research ...

— Balzac • Frederick Lawton

... can only be fully explained by that want of private and public confidence, which are so alarmingly prevalent among all ranks, and which have a direct tendency to depreciate property of every kind. Is private credit the friend and patron of industry? That most useful kind which relates to borrowing and lending is reduced within the narrowest limits, and this still more from an opinion of insecurity than from the scarcity of money. To shorten an enumeration of particulars which can afford neither pleasure ...

— The Federalist Papers

... club and toward Broadway, reflecting upon this information. Could Gordon's debts have any bearing upon the case? All at once one possibility struck me. He had been borrowing from Phelps. Perhaps he had borrowed from Stella also. Perhaps that was the cause of their quarrel. Perhaps she had threatened to make trouble—it was a slender motive, but worth bringing ...

— The Film Mystery • Arthur B. Reeve

... according to the scarcity of gold, and was always high enough to give a very ample profit to the lenders, although they too often required a very much higher rate. In truth, the small security offered by those borrowing, and the arbitrary manner in which debts were at times cancelled, increased the risks of the lender and the normal difficulties of obtaining a loan. We find everywhere, in all ancient legislations, ...

— Manners, Custom and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period • Paul Lacroix

... by some hocus-pocus the Bank of New York hadn't a cent in coin at this moment, it could redeem the few claims that might be made upon it by borrowing, could ...

— Trumps • George William Curtis

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