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lend

/lend//lend/·verb
to give something of yours for temporary use, expecting it back
Fig. 1 — Two open hands across a table, mine on the left.
01Definition

To lend is to give something that is yours for someone else to use for a while, expecting it to come back: you lend a book, money, or a hand. The focus is on the giver — the thing leaves you, but it stays yours, which is why it returns. From Old English lǣnan. It is the mirror image of borrow: the same loan, seen from the owner's side rather than the receiver's. Banks lend at interest; a colour can lend warmth to a room; a fact can lend weight to an argument.

02In use
  • iCould you lend me your notes? I will return them after I scrutinize the data.
  • iiThe bank agreed to lend the amount she needed to expand the workshop.
  • iiiHe was happy to lend his tools, provided they came back clean.
03Collocations
  • lend money to
  • lend a hand
  • lend support
  • lend weight to
  • lend at interest

Family lender (noun) · lending (noun)

04Relations

=loan, advance, let someone use

≠borrow, withhold, keep

05Compared
PairThe difference
lend vs borrowyou borrow FROM someone; you lend TO someone — borrow takes in, lend gives out.
06TOEFL & IELTS

The mirror of borrow and a frequent trap. Lend is to give (owner's side); borrow is to take (receiver's side). Use 'lend someone something' or 'lend something to someone' — 'lend me a pen', not 'borrow me a pen'. Note also the figurative collocations rewarded in IELTS Writing: 'lend support', 'lend weight to', 'lend credibility to'. The past tense is lent.

07Asked
Is loan a verb, or should it always be lend?
In meaning they match; the difference is register and geography. American English happily uses loan as a verb, especially for money: the bank loaned her the deposit. British English prefers lend for the verb and keeps loan as the noun. One rule holds everywhere: figurative uses take lend only — a fact lends weight to an argument, never 'loans' it.
What does 'lend itself to' mean?
To be naturally suited to a use: the hall's acoustics lend themselves to choral music; the data lends itself to misreading. The subject is almost always a thing rather than a person, and what it offers is its own character. It is among the most essay-friendly lend idioms, upgrading a sentence about suitability without a single fancy adjective.
Which is right, lent or lended?
Lent — lend is irregular: lend, lent, lent, in the same clipped family as send/sent and spend/spent. 'Lended' turns up in centuries-old texts but is nonstandard today. Watch the capital letter, though: Lent is also the Christian season before Easter — the same four letters, an unrelated word, and only context or the capital L tells them apart.
Is lending the same as borrowing?
Same loan, opposite ends: the lender gives, the borrower takes. That is why the coin in the scene above keeps glowing the lender's colour even while it rests in the other palm — it never stops being theirs. The two verbs are staged against each other on the borrow vs lend page in the 'Compared' list above.
Can things lend qualities, like a colour lending warmth?
Yes, and the meaning quietly shifts: when a lamp lends warmth to a room or a uniform lends authority, the quality is imparted, not expected back. This figurative lend drops the return that defines the literal one — nobody repays warmth. It behaves like give with a hint of 'from its own store', which is exactly what makes it elegant in writing.