From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishlendlend /lend/ ●●● S3 W3 verb (past tense and past participle lent /lent/) 1 a) [transitive]LEND to let someone borrow money or something that belongs to you for a short time → borrowlend something to somebody I lent my CD player to Dave and I haven’t got it back yet.lend somebody something The hospital agreed to lend us a wheelchair. Can you lend me £10 until tomorrow? b) [intransitive, transitive] 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 something to somebody A lot of banks are unwilling to lend money to new businesses.lend somebody something The building society agreed to lend us £60,000.2 → lend (somebody) a hand3 [transitive] formalADD to give a situation, event etc a particular qualitylend something to something The presence of members of the royal family lent a certain dignity to the ceremony.4 → lend an ear5 → lend itself to something6 → lend (your) support (to something)7 → lend weight/support to something8 → lend your name to somethingTHESAURUSlend (also loan especially American English) to let someone borrow money or something that belongs to you for a short timeCan you lend me $20?Did you lend that book to Mike?The documents were loaned by the local library.let somebody use something/let somebody have something to let someone use something that belongs to you for a short time, especially a room, a house, or something big and expensiveSome friends are letting us use their house while they are on vacation.Dad said he’d let me have his car for the weekend.be on loan if something is on loan, it has been lent to a person or organization in an official way – often used about a library book or a work of artThe museum has an exhibition of paintings on loan from the Louvre.According to the computer, this book is still out on loan. → See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
lend• Tom Robb, a teacher of over 30 years, can lend advice on may technical problems.• That disparity was due to the high level of mortgage lending at Bankinter.• I wish I'd never lent him my car.• Eddie lent it back to me.• To carry emotional moments, Miller pumps up the treacly soundtrack, lending it the importance of a main character.• Can you lend me $20?• They have proved beneficial for plants partly because of their cotton fibre content, which lends moisture.• Banks would lend money more freely and, in fattening their own balance sheets, would feed credit-starved economies.• I lent my penknife to someone, but I can't remember who it was now.• The next chapter reviews actual bank lending techniques and practices.• Did you lend that book to Mike?• They will be eager to lend to you.lend something to somebody• U.S. banks lent billions of dollars to developing countries in the 1970s.• "Where'd you get the car, Mimi?" "A friend lent it to me."lend something to something• Whisky lends an interesting flavor to the sauce.From Longman Business Dictionarylendlend /lend/ verb (past tense and past participle lent /lent/)1[intransitive, transitive]BANKING if a bank or financial institution lends money, it lets a person or organization borrow it on condition that they pay it back, with an additional amount as interest, usually gradually over an agreed period of timeOnce again, the government is encouraging banks to lend.lend something to somebodyLast year, financial institutions lent over $30 billion to new businesses. → see also overlend —lending noun [uncountable]stiff controls on bank lending2[transitive] to let someone borrow money from you or use something that you own, which they will give back to you laterlend somebody somethingCan you lend me $20 till Friday?lend something to somebodyNeighbouring countries offered to lend rescue equipment to the city authorities after the earthquake.3lend strength/support to support or help someone or somethingThe bond market rally yesterday also lent some strength to the stock market.The dollar’s weakness has lent support to precious metals prices.→ See Verb tableOrigin lend Old English lænan, from læn; → LOAN1 