bor·row / ˈbärō; ˈbôrō/ • v. [tr.] take and use (something that belongs to someone else) with the intention of returning it: he had borrowed a car from one of his colleagues. ∎  take and use (money) from a person or bank under an agreement to pay it back later: I borrowed the money for a return plane ticket [intr.] lower interest rates will make it cheaper for individuals to borrow. ∎  take (a word, idea, or method) from another source and use it in one's own language or work: the term is borrowed from Greek. ∎  take and use (a book) from a library for a fixed period of time. ∎  in subtraction, take a unit from the next larger denomination. ∎  Golf allow (a certain distance) when playing a shot to compensate for sideways motion of the ball due to a slope or other irregularity.PHRASES: be (living) on borrowed time used to say that someone has continued to survive against expectations, with the implication that this will not be for much longer.DERIVATIVES: bor·row·er n.

borrow borrowed plumes a borrowed display likely to make the wearer appear pretentious or laughable, often with reference to the fable in which the jay or jackdaw assumes the peacock's plumes.

See also the early man never borrows from the late man, he that goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing.

borrow take on pledge or credit. OE. borgian = OHG. borgēn (G. borgen), f. Gmc. *borʒ-, whence OE., OS. borg pledge, rel. to OE. beorgan = OS., OHG. bergan (Du., G. bergen), ON. bjarga, Goth. bairgan :- Gmc. *berʒan (see prec.).