borrow

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: /bŏrʹō/, IPA ^(key): /ˈbɒrəʊ/, SAMPA: /"bQr@U/
• (US) enPR: bärʹō, IPA ^(key): /ˈbɑroʊ/, SAMPA: /"bAroU/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

Plain form borrow

Third-person singular borrows

Past tense borrowed

Past participle borrowed

Present participle borrowing

1. (transitive & intransitive) If you borrow something from someone, you use it and then you give it back to them.

   Governments need to make it easier for students to borrow money for school.

   The company has also borrowed heavily from the Boston Federal Reserve Bank – some $1.6 billion last month alone.

   Can I borrow your car and show my dad I can drive?

2. (transitive & intransitive) If you borrow words or ideas from somebody, you use them in your own writing or speaking.

   Many people want to throw the war "down the memory hole", to borrow a phrase from Orwell's 1984.

   The choreographer borrowed a number from Swan Lake for his satirical ballet called Birds in Ballet.

Antonyms

• lend
• loan

Related words

• rent
• borrowing
• unborrowed
• borrower