to take or obtain with the promise to return the same or an equivalent.
Our neighbor borrowed my lawn mower.
to use, appropriate, or introduce from another source or from a foreign source.
to borrow an idea from the opposition;
to borrow a word from French.
Arithmetic. (in subtraction) to take from one denomination and add to the next lower.
to borrow something.
Don't borrow unless you intend to repay.
Nautical.
to sail close to the wind; luff.
to sail close to the shore.
Golf. to putt on other than a direct line from the lie of the ball to the hole, to compensate for the incline or roll of the green.
to obtain or receive (something, such as money) on loan for temporary use, intending to give it, or something equivalent or identical, back to the lender
to adopt (ideas, words, etc) from another source; appropriate
not_standard to lend
golf to putt the ball uphill of the direct path to the hole
(intr) golf (of a ball) to deviate from a straight path because of the slope of the ground
golf a deviation of a ball from a straight path because of the slope of the ground
a left borrow
material dug from a borrow pit to provide fill at another
living an unexpected extension of life
close to death
The use of off after borrow was formerly considered incorrect, but is now acceptable in informal contexts
First recorded before 900; Middle English borowen, Old English borgian “to borrow, lend,” verb derivative of borg “a pledge”; cognate with Dutch borg “a pledge,” borgen “to charge, give credit,” German Borg “credit,” borgen “to take on credit”
The word borrow means to take something and use it temporarily. You can borrow a book from the library, or borrow twenty bucks from your mom, or even borrow an idea from your friend. Usually , borrow implies taking something temporarily and returning it later. However, you can borrow non-physical things and adopt them as your own. For example, the English language has borrowed many words from other languages — such as Latin and Greek — but those words were never "given back." If you're subtracting numbers, you might have to borrow from the tens column to complete the problem.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To borrow a favorite buzz word of executives across baseball, they’ll be opportunistic, as they look for ways to solidify the roster for the stretch run and into the playoffs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
Investment-grade technology companies are increasingly using their balance sheets to help smaller companies borrow money for their infrastructure needs, a phenomenon known within the industry as a “credit wrapper.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Higher yields make it more expensive for the government, businesses and households to borrow.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
Burnham could potentially attempt to borrow to fund more public housing, but he would have to ensure this was consistent with the fiscal rules he has also said he will retain.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
I’d need a lot more information before I let him borrow my favorite book.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
Searching on sites like AllBorrow and Borrow the Bazaar, the standard price to rent one outfit for eight days is between $120 and $200.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 9, 2026
The fund’s use of debt via New Arrangements to Borrow requires 85% approval of voting shares.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
Tricolor isn’t a private credit fund, but its businesses was built on the same idea: Borrow money from banks, lend it to borrowers who don’t have access to bank financing—for a high yield.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2025
Borrow gear for free, shop sales, repair instead of replace and other tips for extending the life of your outdoor and camping equipment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2024
“Even though it’s a loan company, it’s never made any loans. Not one. It just borrows money from one bank and pays it back to another. That’s all it does. Borrow and pay back.”
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
"Language is often the first thing politics borrows when it is trying to connect with a new constituency," she says.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
One could argue, however, that as Alphabet rolls out more data centers — and borrows money to do it — that it is becoming more of an industrial company, he said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026
The contemporary Falangist movement in Spain explicitly borrows its name and iconography from Francisco Franco’s dictatorship.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2026
The dollar’s secret sauce is the compounding network effect of a world that prices, borrows, hedges, and settles in one currency.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
“Even though it’s a loan company, it’s never made any loans. Not one. It just borrows money from one bank and pays it back to another. That’s all it does. Borrow and pay back.”
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
Parliamentary speeches have long borrowed from cricket, advertising and popular cinema.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
Big AI spenders, often called hyperscalers, have already borrowed more than $200 billion this year in bonds and loans, and announced another $115 billion in equity raises, according to the research firm CreditSights.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Hyperscalers have been financing their data-center race increasingly with borrowed money and some stock issuance, rather than simply with cash on hand.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
Those slides have raised concerns over people who have borrowed money to invest in stocks, leading to South Korean authorities taking action to curb the practice.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
They were the forgeries that he’d borrowed from Scotland Yard five years earlier in his attempt to lure Le Fantôme.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
"We were forced to secure short-term borrowing simply to fund end-of-season trophies," she said.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Stephen Millard, Niesr's deputy director for macroeconomics, said: "There's clearly no scope for increasing borrowing, so it is about choices."
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Meta also has gotten creative about keeping billions of dollars of borrowing off its balance sheet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
They in turn set a floor on other borrowing costs such as mortgage rates, so their rise can slow economic growth and drag on stock returns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
“Oh! So you’re borrowing money. Another poor practice to teach your son.”
From "Tiger Boy" by Mitali Perkins
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.
