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lending library

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noun
  1. 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.
  2. Chiefly British. a public library that lends materials or the division or section of it that carries out this function.
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Origin of lending library

First recorded in 1700–10
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for lending library

Historical Examples

  • I shall be there all the afternoon giving out the lending-library books, and a good many volumes need re-covering.

    Robin Redbreast

    Mary Louisa Molesworth

British Dictionary definitions for lending library

lending library

noun
  1. Also called (esp US): circulating library the department of a public library providing books for use outside the building
  2. a small commercial library
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012