Borrowing meaning : To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it. To take money from a bank under the agreement that the bank will be paid over the course of time. To adopt (an idea) as one's own. To adopt a word from another language. In a subtraction, to deduct (one) from a digit of the minuend and add ten to the following digit, in order that the subtraction of a larger digit in the subtrahend from the digit in the minuend to which ten is added gives a positive result. (Upper Midwestern United States) To lend. To temporarily obtain (something) for (someone). To feign or counterfeit. (obsolete except in ballads) To secure the release of (someone) from prison. To receive (something) from somebody, with little possibility of returning it. An instance of something being borrowed. A borrowed word, adopted from a foreign language; loanword.