Naut. [Derivation uncertain; connection with BORROW v.1 2 (as if it were ‘to borrow, encroach upon, what belongs to the land or the wind’) seems far-fetched; possibly the original sense was ‘to shelter’: see BURROW.]
intr. ‘To approach closely either to land or wind.’ Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 1867.
1622. R. Hawkins, Voy. S. Sea (1847), 108. It is not good to borrow neere the shore, but to give it a fayre birth.
1702. Lond. Gaz., No. 3781/4. No Ship to borrow nearer the Harbour than that Perch.
1860. Merc. Mar. Mag., VII. 70. To borrow on the breakers of the spit to within 8 or 10 fathoms.
