ENGLISH
REFERENCE

borrowing

n. · v.
US //ˈbɑɹoʊɪŋ// UK //bˈɒɹəʊɪŋ// bor·row·ing
  1. 1 taking something temporarily (n.)
    B1 Intermediate

    the act of taking something from someone else with the plan to give it back later.

    the act of receiving something from another party with the intent or obligation of returning it.

    Example

    The borrowing of library books has increased since the renovation.

    Example

    The frequent borrowing of equipment without formal logging led to a significant shortage by the end of the fiscal year.
  2. 2 money owed (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    money that a person, company, or government has taken as a loan.

    the amount of money obtained through loans, often referring to the total debt of an entity.

    Example

    Government borrowing rose sharply during the economic crisis.

    Example

    Economists warned that excessive borrowing to fund short-term projects would inevitably lead to a credit downgrade.
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  1. 3 a loanword (n.)
    C1 Advanced Academic Technical Linguistics

    a word that a language takes from another language.

    a word or phrase adopted from one language into another; a loanword.

    Example

    The word 'café' is a common borrowing from French used in English.

    Example

    The study explores how lexical borrowings from Arabic were integrated into the Spanish language during the medieval period.
    • loanword
    • calque
  2. 4 shoplifting (v.)
    C2 Proficiency Humorous Slang

    a funny or polite way to talk about stealing something from a shop.

    a euphemistic term for shoplifting or theft.

    Example

    He got caught doing a bit of 'borrowing' from the local supermarket.

    Example

    The security guard was unimpressed by the teenager's claim that he was merely borrowing the headphones without paying for them.
Origin

From borrow + -ing.

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