Definition
verbTo allow to be used by someone temporarily, on condition that it or its equivalent will be returned.
Sentence Examples
Please lend me your car.
Will you lend me your dictionary?
They will lend equipment free of charge.
Word Origin & History
From earlier len (with excrescent -d, as in sound), from Middle English lenen, lænen, from Old English lǣnan (“to lend; give, grant, lease”), from Proto-West Germanic *laihnijan, from Proto-Germanic *laihnijaną (“to loan”), from Proto-Germanic *laihną (“loan”), from Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- (“to leave, leave over”).
Cognate with Scots len, lend (“to lend”), West Frisian liene (“to lend, borrow, loan”), Dutch lenen (“to lend, borrow, loan”), Danish låne (“to lend, loan”), Swedish låna (“to lend, loan”), Icelandic lána (“to lend, loan”), Icelandic léna (“to grant”), Latin linquō (“quit, leave, forlet”), Ancient Greek λείπω (leípō, “leave, release”). See also loan.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend."
— 2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 71:
"[…] Cato, lend me for a vvhile thy Patience, / And condeſcend to hear a young Man ſpeak."
— 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 23:
"Mountain lines and distant horizons lend space and largeness to his compositions."
— 1886, John Addington Symonds, Sir Philip Sidney:
"FORSEA absolutely condemns the political manipulation on the part of the junta, General Prayuth, the Thai Senate and the parties that lent their support for General Prayuth that led him to parliamentary victory."
— 2019 June 8, “Condemning the return to premiership of General Prayuth Chan-ocha through a manipulative method”, in forsea.co, FORSEA, retrieved 09 Jun 2019:
"However, Weldon would soon note his declining potato yield, and his suspicions were confirmed one night when he confronted Joe with a jumper full of spuds. Somehow, Joe managed to talk his way out of trouble. 'I told him I was getting the lend of them,' Joe laughed. It wasn't only vegetables that were targeted, though. For generations of children who grew up on ..."
— 2008, Ronan Casey, Joe Dolan: The Official Biography, Penguin UK, →ISBN: