lend

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: lĕnd, IPA^(key): /lɛnd/
• (pin–pen merger) IPA^(key): /lɪnd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnd
• Homophone: lind (pin-pen merger)

Etymology 1

From earlier len (with excrescent -d, as in sound, round, etc.), 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.

Verb

lend (third-person singular simple present lends, present participle lending, simple past and past participle lent)

1. (transitive) To allow to be used by someone temporarily, on condition that it or its equivalent will be returned.

   I will only lend you my car if you fill up the tank.

   I lent her 10 euros to pay for the train tickets, and she paid me back the next day.

   • 2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71:

     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.

2. (intransitive) To make a loan.
3. (reflexive) To be suitable or applicable, to fit.

   Poems do not lend themselves to translation easily.

   The long history of the past does not lend itself to a simple black and white interpretation.

4. To afford; to grant or furnish in general.

   Can you lend me some assistance?

   The famous director lent his name to the new film.

   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. , London: J Tonson, , published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 1:

     Cato, lend me for a while thy patience.

   • 1886, John Addington Symonds, Sir Philip Sidney:

     Mountain lines and distant horizons lend space and largeness to his compositions.

   • 2019 June 8, “Condemning the return to premiership of General Prayuth Chan-ocha through a manipulative method”, in forsea.co‎, FORSEA, retrieved 2019-06-09:

     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.

5. (proscribed) To borrow.

Antonyms

• borrow

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• give back
• loan
• pay back

Noun

lend

1. (chiefly dialectal, with "the") Loan (permission to borrow (something)).
   • c. 1800s, Arthur McBride, version from 2012, Dick Sheridan, Irish Songs for Ukulele (Songbook), Hal Leonard Corporation (→ISBN):

     “But,” says Arthur, “I wouldn't be proud of your clothes, / For you've only the lend of them, as I suppose.”

   • 1866, Walkden, Diary, 6:

     Yesterday asked Mr. Aray the lend of 8s. 6d. for a month.

   • 2008, Ronan Casey, Joe Dolan: The Official Biography, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

     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 ...

   • 2010, One Million Stories Creative Writing Project 2009 Anthology, →ISBN, page 10:

     Our thanks go to Diran Adebayo for his support, especially his lend of Everything You're Told Is True, to the website. It has been an honour to host […]

   • 2016, Mary Peters, Betsy, The Coalminer's Daughter, New Generation Publishing, →ISBN:

     “Give these to your dad, Betsy, tell him thanks for the lend of them. I'm leaving next week, Betsy.” “Really, where are you going?” Betsy played dumb.

Etymology 2

From Middle English lende (usually in plural as lendes, leendes, lyndes), from Old English lendenu, lendinu pl (“loins”), from Proto-Germanic *landijō, *landį̄ (“loin”), from Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ- (“loin, kidney”). Cognate with Scots lend, leynd (“the loins, flank, buttocks”), Dutch lendenen (“loins, reins”), German Lenden (“loins”), Swedish länder (“loins”), Icelandic lendar (“loins”), Latin lumbus (“loin”) (whence loin), Polish lędźwie (“loins”), Russian ля́двея (ljádveja, “thigh, haunch”).

Alternative forms

• leynd, leind, lind (Scotland)
• lende (obsolete)

Noun

lend (plural lends or linder)

1. (anatomy, UK dialectal) The lumbar region; loin.
2. (UK dialectal, of a person or animal) The loins; flank; buttocks.

References

• “lend”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “lend”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *lenta, from dialectal Proto-Indo-European *lent- (“lentil”), of neolithic substrate origin. Compare Latin lens, lentis, Old High German linsi.

Noun

lend f

1. acorn

Related terms

• lëndë

Estonian

Noun

lend (genitive lennu, partitive lendu)

1. flight

Declension

Derived terms

• lennujaam (“airport”)
• lennuõnnetus (“aviation accident”)

Middle English

Verb

lend

1. Alternative form of lenden (“to come, to dwell”)