to obtain money from someone to use in the present, with the intention of paying it back later
If you borrow money from someone or from a bank, they give it to you and you agree to pay it back at some time in the future. Morgan borrowed £5,000 from his father to form the company 20 years ago It's so expensive to borrow from finance companies He borrowed heavily to get the money together
If you borrow something such as a word or an idea from another language or from another person's work, you use it in your own language or work. I borrowed his words for my book's title Their engineers are happier borrowing other people's ideas than developing their own
To copy or imitate; to adopt; as, to borrow the style, manner, or opinions of another
If you borrow something that belongs to someone else, you take it or use it for a period of time, usually with their permission. Can I borrow a pen please? He wouldn't let me borrow his clothes. lend
Someone who is living on borrowed time or who is on borrowed time has continued to live or to do something for longer than was expected, and is likely to die or be stopped from doing it soon. Perhaps that illness, diagnosed as fatal, gave him a sense of living on borrowed time