Word Direct Answers

What does "borrow" mean?

Borrow: (Arith.) To take (one or more) from the next higher denomination in order to add it to the next lower; -- a term of subtraction when the figure of the subtrahend is larger than the corresponding one of the minuend.

Additional senses

  1. 2.To copy or imitate; to adopt; as, to borrow the style, manner, or opinions of another. Rites borrowed from the ancients. Macaulay. It is not hard for any man, who hath a Bible in his hands, to borrow good words and holy sayings in abundance; but to make them his own is a work of grace only from above. Milton.
  2. 3.To feign or counterfeit. "Borrowed hair." Spenser. The borrowed majesty of England. Shak.
  3. 4.To receive; to take; to derive. Any drop thou borrowedst from thy mother. Shak. To borrow trouble, to be needlessly troubled; to be overapprehensive.
  4. 5.Something deposited as security; a pledge; a surety; a hostage. [Obs.] Ye may retain as borrows my two priests. Sir W. Scott.
  5. 6.The act of borrowing. [Obs.] Of your royal presence I'll adventure The borrow of a week. Shak.

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