BORROW • E-FREE TRANSLATION.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

... distinguished himself at the previous trial by the melodramatic quality of his testimony, proved the peskiest witness of all. He was spending his days and his nights during the trial gambling and living high. Whenever his money gave out he called at the office of one of the Marquis's supporters to "borrow" fifty dollars to continue his revelry, and the victim was too much afraid of what fiction he might tell the jury to refuse him. It was determined in solemn conclave, however, that McFay should be the first witness called, and ...

— Roosevelt in the Bad Lands • Hermann Hagedorn

... Donovan and asked the loan of a thousand pounds. It took Dicky's breath away. His own banking account seldom saw a thousand —deposit. Dicky told Kingsley he hadn't got it. Kingsley asked him to get it—he had credit, could borrow it from the bank, from the Khedive himself! The proposal was audacious—Kingsley could offer no security worth having. His enthusiasm and courage were so infectious, however, though his ventures had been so fruitless, that Dicky ...

— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

... British name from disgrace, and to secure our territorial possessions in India, Sir Henry Fletcher introduced a bill for "suspending the payments of the company due to the exchequer, and enabling them to borrow the sum of L300,000 for their relief." This bill, which was declared to be only a branch of a larger plan, passed both houses with very little opposition; an impression generally prevailing among peers and commoners, that unless relief was afforded, bankruptcy was inevitable. ...

— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... the intellectual conduct of a war; there is a most admirable communication from east to west for the material conduct of that war upon two fronts. Whenever it may be necessary to move troops from the French frontier to the Russian, or from the Russian to the French, or for Germany to borrow Hungarian cavalry for the Rhine, or for Austria to borrow German army corps to protect Galicia, all that is needed is three or four days in which to entrain and move these great masses of men. There is no area in Europe which ...

— A General Sketch of the European War - The First Phase • Hilaire Belloc

... rational consideration of their necessity. The voice of reason seemed to be silent in the Assembly; only the utterances of fervid prophecy found listeners. Governor Ford speaks of one orator who insisted, amid enthusiastic plaudits, that the State could well afford to borrow one hundred millions for internal improvements. The process of reasoning, or rather predicting, was easy and natural. The roads would raise the price of land; the State could enter large tracts and sell them at a profit; foreign capital would be ...

— Abraham Lincoln: A History V1 • John G. Nicolay and John Hay

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