borrowverb
uk/ˈbɒr.əʊ/us/ˈbɑːr.oʊ/borrow verb (RECEIVE)
A2 [ T ] to get or receive something from someone with the intention of giving it back after a period of time:
I had to borrow a pen from the invigilator to do the exam.
UK non-standard Can I borrow £100 off you until next week?
She used to borrow money and not bother to pay it back.
He borrowed a novel from the library.
C1 [ I or T ] to take money from a bank or other financial organization and pay it back over a period of time:
Like so many companies at that time, we had to borrow heavily to survive.
We could always borrow some money from the bank.
[ T ] to take and use a word or idea from another language or piece of work:
English has borrowed many words from French.
More examples
- Can I borrow a couple of bucks?
- Do you have a Birmingham to London train timetable that I could borrow?
- You have to sign books out when you borrow them from the library.
- He's a bit possessive about his CDs - I wouldn't dare ask to borrow them.
- Just because I'm lending you my dress for tonight doesn't mean you can borrow it whenever you want to.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Borrowing & lending
- be in the hole idiom
- bounce
- call it quits idiom
- call sth in
- credit
- credit risk
- debenture
- fire sale
- gearing
- leveraged buyout
- liability
- liquidate
- microcredit
- national debt
- pay
- put sth up
- reschedule
- slate
- term
- tick
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Writing & typing
borrow verb (MATHEMATICS)
[ T ] to put a number into a different column when doing subtraction
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Addition, subtraction, multiplication & division
- add
- add (sth) up
- addition sign
- associative property
- carry sth forward/over
- cube
- deduct
- distributive
- divide
- divisor
- greatest common factor
- long division
- minus
- multiplication table
- multiply
- plus
- power
- quadruple
- table
- times
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borrower
noun [ C ] uk/ˈbɒr.əʊ.ər/us/ˈbɑːr.oʊ.ɚ/
a person, organization, etc. that borrows:
Banks are encouraging new borrowers.
borrowing
noun [ C or U ] uk/ˈbɒr.əʊ.ɪŋ/us/ˈbɑːr.oʊ.ɪŋ/
Public borrowing has increased in recent years.
Idiom(s)
live on borrowed time