lend

lend

W3S3 [lend] v past tense and past participle lent [lent]

[: Old English; Origin: lAnan, from lAn; LOAN¹]

1.)

a) [T]

to let someone borrow money or something that belongs to you for a short time

→↑borrow lend sth to sb

▪ I lent my CD player to Dave and I haven't got it back yet.

lend sb sth

▪ The hospital agreed to lend us a wheelchair.

▪ Can you lend me £10 until tomorrow?

b) [I and T]

if a bank or financial institution lends money, it lets someone have it on condition that they pay it back later, often gradually, with an additional amount as ↑interest

▪ The government is trying to encourage the banks to lend more.

lend sth to sb

▪ A lot of banks are unwilling to lend money to new businesses.

lend sb sth

▪ The building society agreed to lend us £60,000.

2.) lend (sb) a hand

to help someone do something, especially something that needs physical effort

▪ Can you lend me a hand with this?

3.) [T] formal

to give a situation, event etc a particular quality

lend sth to sth

▪ The presence of members of the royal family lent a certain dignity to the ceremony.

4.) lend an ear

to listen to someone, especially in a sympathetic way

▪ He's always prepared to lend a sympathetic ear.

5.) lend itself to sth

to be suitable for being used in a particular way

▪ None of her books really lends itself to being made into a film.

6.) lend (your) support (to sth)

to support or help someone

▪ The government has now lent its support to the campaign.

7.) lend weight/support to sth

to make an opinion or belief seem more likely to be correct

▪ The police have new evidence which lends weight to their theory.

8.) lend your name to sth

to announce publicly that you support something that someone is trying to do

▪ The French prime minister has now lent his name to the protest.