borrow
verbVerb Forms
Idioms | present simple I / you / we / they borrow | |
| he / she / it borrows | |
| past simple borrowed | |
| past participle borrowed | |
| -ing form borrowing |
- [transitive]
to take and use something that belongs to somebody else, and return it to them at a later time 借；借用 - borrow something
Can I borrow your umbrella? 借你的伞用一下行吗？ - borrow something from somebody/something
Members can borrow up to ten books from the library at any one time. 会员在图书馆每次最多可借十本书。 - borrow something off somebody (British English, informal)
I borrowed the tools I needed off my brother. 我从我哥哥那里借了我需要的工具。
Which Word? borrow / lendborrow / lend- These two words are often confused. You borrow something from someone else, while they lend it to you:
这两个词常被混淆，借入用 borrow，借出用 lend： Can I borrow your pen? 我可以借用你的钢笔吗？ Can I borrow a pen from you? 我可以借用你的钢笔吗？ Here, I’ll lend you my pen. 喏，我把钢笔借给你。
Extra ExamplesI'll borrow some coffee off the neighbours. 我要从邻居那里借点咖啡。 I'm borrowing the office laptop for the weekend. 我周末借用办公室的笔记本电脑。 You can borrow the book from the local library. 你可以从本地图书馆借这本书。
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- heavily
- from
- off
- borrow something
- [transitive, intransitive]
to take money from a person or bank and agree to pay it back to them at a later time 借入（款项）；（向…）借贷 - borrow something
How much did you have to borrow to pay for this? 你得借多少钱来买这个东西？ The goal is to borrow funds at a low interest rate. 目标是以低利率借入资金。 - borrow something from somebody/something
She borrowed £2 000 from her parents. 她向她的父母借了 2 000 英镑。 - borrow from somebody/something
I don't like to borrow from friends. 我不喜欢向朋友借钱。 The company had borrowed heavily from state-owned banks. 该公司向国有银行大举借债。 - borrow something off somebody (informal)
I had to borrow the money off a friend. 我不得不向一个朋友开口借这笔钱。
Extra ExamplesTopics Moneya2, Houses and homesa2She borrowed £50 from her mother. 她向妈妈借了50英镑。 I borrowed £50 off my mum. 我跟妈妈借了 50 英镑。
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- heavily
- from
- off
- borrow something
- [intransitive, transitive]
to take words, ideas, etc. from another language, person, etc. and use them as your own 引用，借用（思想、言语等） - borrow (from somebody/something)
The author borrows heavily from Henry James. 那位作家大量引用亨利 · 詹姆斯的作品。 His designs borrow freely from the architecture of ancient Egypt. 他的设计大量地借鉴了古埃及的建筑风格。 - borrow something (from somebody/something)
Some musical terms are borrowed from Italian. 某些音乐术语是从意大利语引入的。 The villain was—to borrow a phrase from Alex—‘all bark and no bite’. 借用亚历克斯的一句话，这个恶棍是“只叫不咬”。
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- freely
- from
- borrow (from somebody/something)
Word OriginOld English borgian ‘borrow against security’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German borgen.
Idioms
be (living) on borrowed time
to still be alive after the time when you were expected to die 活过寿限；大限已近 He’s been living on borrowed time ever since his last heart attack. 自从上次心脏病发作以来，他一直靠借来的时间生活。
to be doing something that other people are likely to soon stop you from doing 做很快就会遭到制止的事；好景不长 According to the latest opinion polls, the government is living on borrowed time. 根据最新的民意调查，政府靠借来的时间生活。