DictionaryAI

borrowing

BAW-roh-wing/ˈbɔrəwɪŋ/UKBO-roh-ing/ˈbɒɹəʊɪŋ/

Pluralborrowings (some meanings)

4 meanings of borrowing

Practice

  1. 1
    noununcountable
    The act of taking something for a time and planning to give it back.

    Like using a friend's umbrella when it rains and giving it back after.

    Borrowing a neighbor's ladder saved him a trip to the store.

    Her frequent borrowing of my notes became a habit.

    Oppositelending

    Note
  2. 2
    verb
    Present participle of borrow. Use this -ing form for an action happening now.

    She is borrowing my bike for the afternoon.

    They are borrowing chairs from the school hall.

    Note
  3. 3
    nouncountable
    A word taken from one language and used in another.

    Like learning a useful word from a friend and then using it yourself.

    The word 'pizza' is a borrowing from Italian.

    English has many borrowings from other languages.

    Similarloanword, loan

    Note
  4. 4
    verbslangeuphemistictransitive
    A joking word for stealing things from a store.

    Like calling stealing something 'just taking it for a while' as a joke.

    He got caught borrowing a few candy bars from the gas station.

    She bragged about borrowing a scarf right under the guard's nose.

    Similarstealing, pinching, swiping, nicking, lifting

    Note

borrowing is a form of borrow

borrow, verb: To take something from someone for a short time, planning to give it back. Full entry

Forms
borrowborrows he/she/itborrowing -ing formborrowed past tense, past participle
Spelling
borrow → borrowing: add -ing

Practice

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Origin

From the word "borrow" plus "-ing".