Definition of LEND

lend

Plural: lends

Verb

Verb Forms: lent, lending, lends

  • To give something to someone for temporary use.
  • bestow a quality on
    • "Her presence lends a certain cachet to the company"
  • give temporarily; let have for a limited time
    • "I will lend you my car"
  • have certain characteristics of qualities for something; be open or vulnerable to
    • "This story would lend itself well to serialization on television"
    • "The current system lends itself to great abuse"
  • To allow to be used by someone temporarily, on condition that it or its equivalent will be returned.
  • To make a loan.
  • To be suitable or applicable, to fit.
  • To afford; to grant or furnish in general.
  • To borrow.

Noun

  • Loan (permission to borrow (something)).
  • The lumbar region; loin.
  • The loins; flank; buttocks.

Examples

  • Can you lend me some assistance?
  • Could you lend me a ’Z’ tile? Mine seems to have vanished from the bag.
  • I will only lend you my car if you fill up the tank.
  • Poems do not lend themselves to translation easily.
  • The famous director lent his name to the new film.
  • The long history of the past does not lend itself to a simple black and white interpretation.
  • Where is that hundred euros I lent you months ago?

Origin / Etymology

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.

Antonyms

borrow, call, sell

Scrabble Score: 5

lend: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
lend: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
lend: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 7

lend: valid Words With Friends Word