n.
- Something lent for temporary use.
- A sum of money lent at interest.
- An act of lending; a grant for temporary use: asked for the loan of a garden hose.
- A temporary transfer to a duty or place away from a regular job: an efficiency expert on loan from the main office.
To lend.
[Middle English lan, lon, from Old Norse lān.]
loaner loan'er n.USAGE NOTE The verb loan is well established in American usage and cannot be considered incorrect. The frequent objections to the form by American grammarians may have originated from a provincial deference to British critics, who long ago labeled the usage a typical Americanism. Loan is, however, used to describe only physical transactions, as of money or goods; for figurative transactions, lend is correct: Distance lends enchantment. The allusions lend the work a classical tone.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
