lending library
Americannoun
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Also called circulating library, rental library. a small library that is maintained by a commercial establishment, as a drugstore, and is composed largely of current books that are lent to customers for a fee.
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Chiefly British. a public library that lends materials or the division or section of it that carries out this function.
noun
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Also called (esp US): circulating library. the department of a public library providing books for use outside the building
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a small commercial library
Etymology
Origin of lending library
First recorded in 1700–10
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Heavy Manners Library, an art space and lending library specializing in independent books and zines, holds one every other month.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 12, 2024
But some of its other projects—a pandemic-era lending library and the ongoing digitalization of 78 rpm records—have led to lawsuits now threatening the future of this repository of the past.
From Slate • Apr. 21, 2024
It is believed to be Europe's largest public lending library and houses one of the UK's most important Shakespeare collections.
From BBC • Sep. 19, 2023
The Internet Archive, a vast repository of digitized content, has books in the public domain along with an online lending library.
From New York Times • Nov. 23, 2022
Her other expenditure was at the lending library, where she borrowed Oliver Twist.
From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
