borrow
/'bɔrou/
Definition
- Verb:
- To take and use something that belongs to someone else, with the intention of returning it: This is the primary meaning, involving a temporary transfer with an expectation of giving the item back.
- To adopt or take over (an idea, word, or custom) from another source or language: This meaning involves taking something abstract, like a concept or phrase, and using it as one's own, often without an expectation of literal return.
Examples of Usage
- Verb:
- Can I borrow your pen for a moment? I'll give it right back.
- She had to borrow money from the bank to buy a car.
- Many English words are borrowed from French and Latin.
- He borrowed the technique from classical painters.
Advanced Usage
"borrow trouble": To worry unnecessarily about a potential future problem.
- Don't borrow trouble by stressing about the interview now; just prepare well.
Concept of "borrowed time": A period of time continuing beyond an expected deadline or crisis.
- After the diagnosis, he felt he was living on borrowed time.
Variants and Related Words
Borrower (n): A person or institution that borrows something.
- The library tracks its books and borrowers electronically.
Borrowing (n): 1. The action of borrowing something. 2. A word or idea taken from another language or source.
- The company's heavy borrowing led to debt.
- "Café" is a borrowing from French.
Synonyms
- Take on loan: To receive something temporarily under an agreement.
- Adopt: To take and use an idea or method.
Related Phrasal Verbs
(Note: "Borrow" is not commonly used with particles to form phrasal verbs. Its meaning is typically conveyed alone or with prepositions like "from.")
Related Idioms
Live on borrowed time: To continue living or existing after a point when one might have expected to die or fail.
- The old system is living on borrowed time; it will be replaced soon.
Borrow a page from someone's book: To imitate or be inspired by someone's methods or ideas.
- We should borrow a page from their marketing strategy; it's very effective.
Verb
-
take up and practice as one's own
-
get temporarily
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May I borrow your lawn mower?
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