borrow.
To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it.
Meaning & usage
To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it.
To receive money from a bank or other lender under the agreement that the lender will be paid back over time.
To adopt (an idea) as one's own.
to borrow the style, manner, or opinions of another
To adopt a word from another language.
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.
To lend.
To temporarily obtain (something) for (someone).
To feign or counterfeit.
To secure the release of (someone) from prison.
To receive (something, usually of trifling value) from somebody, with little possibility of returning it.
Can I borrow a sheet of paper?
To interrupt the current activity of (a person) and lead them away in order to speak with them, get their help, etc.
John, can I borrow you for a second? I need your help with the copier.
To adjust one's aim in order to compensate for the slope of the green.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English borwen, from Old English borgian (“to borrow, lend, pledge surety for”), from Proto-West Germanic *borgōn, 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.
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.
A borrow pit.
In Rust and some other programming languages, the situation where the ownership of a value is temporarily transferred to another region of code.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English borwen, from Old English borgian (“to borrow, lend, pledge surety for”), from Proto-West Germanic *borgōn, 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.
A ransom; a pledge or guarantee.
A surety; someone standing bail.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English borwe, borgh, from Old English borh, borg, from Proto-West Germanic *borgōn, from Proto-Germanic *burgōną (“to borrow, lend”) (related to Etymology 1, above).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.