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.
The main house had a lending library filled with art books and catalogs, and people from the surrounding community came for annual parties.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2025
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
It was several weeks before Lyddie caught on that the novel was from the lending library and thus cost Betsy five cents a week to borrow.
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.
