What is a lender of last resort?

"A lender of last resort (LoR) is an institution, usually a country's central bank, that offers loans to banks or other eligible institutions that are experiencing financial difficulty or are considered highly risky or near collapse. In the United States, the Federal Reserve acts as the lender of last resort to institutions that do not have any other means of borrowing, and whose failure to obtain credit would dramatically affect the economy."
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lenderoflastresort.asp

"As the name suggests, a lender of last resort (LLR) is supposed to provide credit when funds are not available from any other source. The classic LLR prescription for a central bank—the very meaning of the term—was developed over the century prior to the Fed’s creation. Even though private institutions had successfully provided LLR services in the U.S., the LLR role was one of the initial functions given to the Fed when it was created in 1913."
https://www.heritage.org/report/the-feds-failure-lender-last-resort-what-do-about-it

"While the concept itself had been used previously, the term "lender of last resort" was supposedly first used in its current context by Sir Francis Baring, in his Observations on the Establishment of the Bank of England, which was published in 1797"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lender_of_last_resort

"Although the financial crisis inflicted massive damage on the economy and on the public, the damage would have been far greater had the Fed not deployed its lender of last resort powers to deal with the incipient breakdown of the functioning of the U.S. monetary and credit systems."

"Since the Great Depression, the Fed's actions as lender of last resort were undertaken using its authority to provide discount window funding to insured depository institutions. Such was the case in the Federal Reserve's reaction to the Penn Central default of 1970, the stock market crash of 1987, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the initial stages of the recent financial crisis in August 2007. Discount window loans have to be collateralized to the satisfaction of the lending Reserve Bank, and it is noteworthy that all of the Federal Reserve System's lending during the Great Financial Crisis was collateralized and that all the loans have been repaid in full, on time, and with interest."
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/fischer20160210a.htm

"The Federal Reserve (Fed) is the central bank of the US and is considered as the lender of last resort because it financially assists the financial institutions (banks) when they face monetary downturn and are on the verge of bankruptcy."
https://study.com/academy/answer/the-original-intention-of-the-federal-reserve-s-role-as-lender-of-last-resort-was-to-make-loans-to-banks-that-were-a-not-illiquid-nor-insolvent-b-illiquid-but-not-insolvent-c-insolvent-but-not-illiquid-d-both-illiquid-and-insolvent.html

"Nevertheless, prior to the recent crisis the Fed had large gaps in its authority as a supervisor and as lender of last resort, with the latter role weakened further by stigma. The Fed was unable to prevent the recent crisis, during which its lender of last resort function expanded significantly."
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.27.4.45

"“Lending of last resort” is one of the key powers of central banks. As a lender of last resort, the Federal Reserve (the “Fed”) famously supports commercial banks facing distressed liquidity conditions, thereby mitigating destabilizing bank runs."
https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles/1224/

Chapter 34 - The Federal Reserve - Lender of Last Resort

"The lender of last resort may grant loans not only to banks, but also to any other eligible financial institution, including private firms.

Even the US Federal Reserve acknowledges the ambiguity of the central bank’s role as lender of last resort."
https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/lender-last-resort-definition-meaning/amp/

"A lender of last resort is a lender that provides loans to governments, businesses and private individuals who cannot get a loan any other way."
https://www.finweb.com/loans/problems-with-the-lender-of-last-resort-system.html