Lent, n.1
(lɛnt)
Forms: 3–5 leinte, leynte, 4–6 lente, 6– lent.
[Shortened from Lenten.]
1. The season of spring. Obs. exc. in Comb. (see 4).
| c 1275 Lay. 30626 Þar after com leinte [c 1205 leinten] and daȝes gonne longy. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 107 Þe evenes of þe day and of þe nyȝt is ones in þe Lente, and efte in hervest. |
2. Eccl. The period including 40 weekdays extending from Ash-Wednesday to Easter-eve, observed as a time of fasting and penitence, in commemoration of Our Lord's fasting in the wilderness.
† Also
Clean Lent.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 229/352 Fram þulke tyme forto in leinte no lond huy ne i-seiȝe. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 350 As wel in lente as oute of lente. c 1400 A. Davy Dreams 117 On Wedenysday in clene leinte. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 12 An ȝif if it be in lente, lef þe ȝolkys of Eyroun. 1527 Warden's Acc. Morebath, Devon, The 2 Sonday in clene Lente. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 241 The first Sondaie in Lent, Stephyn Gardiner Bishop of Winchester, preached at Paules crosse. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. iv. 143 An old Hare hoare is very good meat in Lent. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle iv. 1434 Cocus..hath an intent, To curry favour, to dresse meat in Lent. 1769 Gray in Corr. with Nicholls (1843) 87 Palgrave keeps Lent at home, and wants to be asked to break it. 1797–1809 Coleridge Three Graves xix, Ellen always kept her church All church-days during Lent. 1861 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 46 Many a cargo of salt cod for Lent..was there. |
b. An instance of this; the Lent of some specified year.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 251 But þe nexte Lente [MSS. α and β leynte] þerafter he wente into Normandie. 1538 Coverdale N.T., Ded. to Cromwell, This last lent I dyd with all humblenesse directe an Epistle vnto the kynges most noble grace. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 376 What is a Ioynt of Mutton, or two, in a whole Lent? 1740 Gray Let. Poems (1775) 78 The diversions of a Florentine Lent. 1842 Tennyson St. Sim. Styl. 179 If it may be, fast Whole Lents, and pray. |
c. transf. (
cf. 3 b) and
fig.| 1598 Tofte Alba (1880) 102 The Carnouale of my sweet Love is past, Now comes the Lent of my long Hate at last. 1599 H. Buttes Dyets drie Dinner A a iij, Spice sweetens White-meats Lent. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage, Descr. India (1864) 157 After that weeke of cleane Lent without eating or drinking. 1634 Bp. Hall Charac. Man (1635) 6 If, in the former, there be a sad Lent of mortification; there is in the latter, a chearful Easter of our raising and exaltation. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. xiii. 408 He is half starv'd in the lent of a long vacation. 1660 Milton Free Commw. Wks. 1851 V. 421 Before so long a Lent of Servitude, they may permit us a little Shroving-time first wherin to speak freely. 1713 Swift Cadenus & Van. 90 There live with daggled mermaids pent, And keep on fish perpetual lent. |
d. pl. At Cambridge: The Lent-term boat-races.
| 1893 Westm. Gaz. 27 Feb. 11/2 In the Lents' on Saturday both Jesus and Trinity Hall pursued their victorious career. |
† 3. In extended senses.
a. A period of forty days,
esp. in
lent of pardon, an indulgence of forty days.
| 1483 Caxton Gold Leg. 158 b/2 There is seuen yere and seuen lentys of pardon. 1502 Arnolde Chron. 146 And aboue this is grauntyd xxviij. C. yere of pardon, and the merytis of as many lentis or karyns. 1535 Godly Primer Admon. to Rdr., Promising moche grace, and many yeres, dayes, and lentes of pardon. |
† b. A period of fasting prescribed by any religious system.
Obs.| c 1380 Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 41 Þo holy lenten þat bygynneþ fro þe twelþe day of cristemasse to þe fulle fourti daies. 1555 Eden Decades 99 They haue obserued a longer and sharper lent then euer yowre holinesse inioyned. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 541 They observe their houres, and two Fasts or Lents. 1653 Greaves Seraglio 143 The Ramazan being ended, which is their day lent. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess [Bristol] Lett. 1887 I. 241 Their lents..are at least seven months in every year. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The antient Latin monks had three Lents; the grand Lent before Easter; another before Christmas, called the Lent of S. Martin; and a third after Whit⁓sunday, called the Lent of S. John Baptist: each of which consisted of forty days. 1757 Hume Ess., Nat. Hist. Relig. (1817) II. 446 The four lents of the Muscovites. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xlvii. (1788) IV. 604 Five annual lents, during which both the clergy and laity abstain..even from the taste of wine [etc.]. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as (sense 1)
lent-corn,
Lent-crop,
Lent-grain(s;
lent-sown adj.; (sense 2)
Lent-diet,
Lent-fast,
Lent-meat,
Lent-provisions,
Lent-season,
Lent-seed,
Lent-sermon,
Lent stuff,
Lent-time;
† Lent-cloth, a cloth hung before images in Lent;
lent-lily, (
a) the yellow daffodil,
Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus; (
b)
adj. of the colour of this flower;
lent-rose = lent-lily (a); also, in S. Devon,
N. biflorus (Britten & Holland);
Lent-term (at the Universities), the term in which Lent falls.
| 1495–6 in Swayne Churchw. Acc. Sarum (1896) 45 Pro anulis pro le *lentecloth coram S. Nich. Ep. iijd., et pro factura eiusdem iiijd. 1552 Inv. Ch. Goods (Surtees) 44 One great clothe of canves cauled Lente clothe. |
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §148 Vnto the tyme that thou haue sowen agayne thy wynter-corne & thy *lente-corne. 1889 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Lent-corn, barley and oats; also beans, if sown in the spring. |
| 1744–50 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. II. i. 113 Whether it be a Wheat, or *Lent-Crop, that is set on the Soils, Rolling is one main Preservative of such a Crop. 1855 Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 721/2 Breach or Lent Crops (East Eng. &c.), all spring crops. |
| 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 286 In a *Lent Diet People commonly fall away. |
| 1651 C. Cartwright Cert. Relig. ii. 58 And the like also for the different manner of observing the *Lent-fast in respect of the time. |
| 1744–50 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. II. i. 55 The two first [sc. Barley and Pease] as well as Oats, etc. are called *Lent-Grains, as being to be sown about Lent time. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss., Lent-grain, the spring crops. |
| 1826–7 K. Digby Broadst. Hon. (1846) II. 364 The early daffodil was *Lent-lily. 1872 Tennyson Gareth & Lynette 911 A silk pavilion..all Lent-lily in hue. |
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 67 Ete nu *leinte mete and enes o dai. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 375 b/1 In aduent he ete neuer but lente mete. |
| 1663–4 Pepys Diary 10 Feb., My wife..being with my aunt Wight to day to buy *Lent provisions. |
| 1796 W. Marshall W. Eng. I. 328 *Lent rose..the Narcissus or Daffodil. |
| 1573 Baret Alv. L 284 *Lent season, quadragesima. |
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xiii. 190 Lynne-seed and lik-seed and *lente-seedes alle. |
| a 1695 Wood Ath. Oxon. (1899) III. 178 And therin doth the Vicechancellour sit, to heare the *Lent⁓sermons preached. |
| 1795 Gentl. Mag. 539/2 The dryness of April and May was against the vegetation of the *Lent⁓sown seed. |
| 1573 Tusser Husb. lvi. (1878) 37 Take shipping or ride *Lent stuffe to prouide. |
| 1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. iv. 68 We're only half through *Lent term. 1950 Cambridge 1950 (Varsity) 8 The Cardinal's Ball..seems to have taken over the position of chief social event of the Lent term from the now banned Granta Ball. 1974 Univ. Exeter Calendar 1974–5 4 Wed. 8 [January] Lent term begins. |
| 1721 Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 42 (1754) 223 These disputations..are so order'd, that they last all *Lent-time. |