lending library

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noun

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.

Chiefly British. a public library that lends materials or the division or section of it that carries out this function.

Origin of lending library

First recorded in 1700–10

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for lending library

bookmobile

Examples from the Web for lending library

Historical Examples of lending library

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

Also called (esp US): circulating library the department of a public library providing books for use outside the building

a small commercial library

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