loan
    n 1: the temporary provision of money (usually at interest)
    2: a word borrowed from another language; e.g. `blitz' is a
       German word borrowed into modern English [syn: loanword,
       loan]
    v 1: give temporarily; let have for a limited time; "I will lend
         you my car"; "loan me some money" [syn: lend, loan]
         [ant: borrow]

Loan \Loan\ (l[=o]n), n. [See Lawn.]
   A loanin. [Scot.]
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Loan \Loan\, n. [OE. lone, lane, AS. l[=a]n, l[ae]n, fr. le['i]n
   to lend; akin to D. leen loan, fief, G. lehen fief, Icel.
   l[=a]n, G. leihen to lend, OHG. l[imac]han, Icel. lj[imac],
   Goth. leihwan, L. linquere to leave, Gr. lei`pein, Skr. ric.
   [root]119. Cf. Delinquent, Eclipse, Eleven, Ellipse,
   Lend, License, Relic.]
   1. The act of lending; a lending; permission to use; as, the
      loan of a book, money, services.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. That which one lends or borrows, especially a sum of money
      lent at interest; as, he repaid the loan.
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   Loan office.
      (a) An office at which loans are negotiated, or at which
          the accounts of loans are kept, and the interest paid
          to the lender.
      (b) A pawnbroker's shop.
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Loan \Loan\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Loaned; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Loaning.]
   To lend; -- sometimes with out. --Kent.
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         By way of location or loaning them out.  --J. Langley
                                                  (1644).
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Loan
   The Mosaic law required that when an Israelite needed to borrow,
   what he asked was to be freely lent to him, and no interest was
   to be charged, although interest might be taken of a foreigner
   (Ex. 22:25; Deut. 23:19, 20; Lev. 25:35-38). At the end of seven
   years all debts were remitted. Of a foreigner the loan might,
   however, be exacted. At a later period of the Hebrew
   commonwealth, when commerce increased, the practice of exacting
   usury or interest on loans, and of suretiship in the commercial
   sense, grew up. Yet the exaction of it from a Hebrew was
   regarded as discreditable (Ps. 15:5; Prov. 6:1, 4; 11:15; 17:18;
   20:16; 27:13; Jer. 15:10).
   
     Limitations are prescribed by the law to the taking of a
   pledge from the borrower. The outer garment in which a man slept
   at night, if taken in pledge, was to be returned before sunset
   (Ex. 22:26, 27; Deut. 24:12, 13). A widow's garment (Deut.
   24:17) and a millstone (6) could not be taken. A creditor could
   not enter the house to reclaim a pledge, but must remain outside
   till the borrower brought it (10, 11). The Hebrew debtor could
   not be retained in bondage longer than the seventh year, or at
   farthest the year of jubilee (Ex. 21:2; Lev. 25:39, 42), but
   foreign sojourners were to be "bondmen for ever" (Lev.
   25:44-54).
   

LOAN, contracts. The act by which a person lets another have a thing to be 
used by him gratuitously, and which is to be returned, either in specie or 
in kind, agreeably to the terms of the contract. The thing which is thus 
transferred is also called a loan. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 1077. 
     2. A loan in general implies that a thing is lent without reward; but, 
in some cases, a loan may be for a reward; as, the loan of money. 7 Pet. R. 
109. 
     3. In order to make a contract usurious, there must be a loan; Cowp. 
112, 770; 1 Ves. jr. 527; 2 Bl. R. 859; 3 Wils. 390 and the borrower must be 
bound to return the money at all events. 2 Scho. & Lef. 470. The purchase of 
a bond or note is not a loan ; 3 Scho. & Lef. 469; 9 Pet. R 103; but if such 
a purchase be merely colorable, it will be considered as a loan. 2 John. 
Cas. 60; Id. 66; 12 S. & R. 46; 15 John. R. 44.