lent

¹

[ lent ]

verb

1. simple past tense and past participle of lend.

Lent

²

[ lent ]

noun

1. (in the Christian religion) an annual season of fasting and penitence in preparation for Easter, beginning on Ash Wednesday and lasting 40 weekdays to Easter, observed by Roman Catholic, Anglican, and certain other churches.

-lent

³

1. a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, variant of -ulent:

   pestilent.

Lent

¹

/ lɛnt /

noun

1. Christianity the period of forty weekdays lasting from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, observed as a time of penance and fasting commemorating Jesus' fasting in the wilderness
2. modifier falling within or associated with the season before Easter

   Lent observance

3. plural (at Cambridge University) Lent term boat races

lent

²

/ lɛnt /

verb

1. See lend
   the past tense and past participle of lend

Lent

1. In Christianity , a time of fasting and repentance in the spring, beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending several weeks later on Easter .

Notes

To “give something up for Lent” is to abandon a pleasurable habit as an act of devotion and self-discipline.

Other Words From

• un·lent adjective
• well-lent adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of lent¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English leynte, Old English læncte “spring, springtime, Lent,” literally, “lengthening (of daylight hours)”; cognate with Dutch lente(n), German Lenz “spring” (only English has the ecclesiastical sense); Lenten, long ¹( def )

Word History and Origins

Origin of lent¹

Old English lencten, lengten spring, literally: lengthening (of hours of daylight)

Example Sentences

Like Lent, the season of Advent was a period of reflection and fasting, and items such as dairy and sugar were forbidden.

From The Daily Beast

Shortly thereafter, T.I. lent his first post-incarceration verse to a remix of “Magic.”

From The Daily Beast

In return we lent the hospitable Post our halftones, and they adorned its first city edition next morning.

From The Daily Beast

There seemed a sense that his blackness alone lent him a protean kind of wisdom, power, promise—hope, we might recall.

From The Daily Beast

Oleksiy Kosarev, leader of a local anti-corruption organization, lent some credence to this conception.

From The Daily Beast

Anselme, thus enjoined, lent an unwonted alacrity to his movements, waddling grotesquely like a hastening waterfowl.

From Project Gutenberg

The action was at first a little confusing to Edna, but she soon lent herself readily to the Creole's gentle caress.

From Project Gutenberg

This stubborn resistance lent all the more lustre to the piety of our benignant Rulers.

From Project Gutenberg

This misfortune gave another opportunity to his detractors, and again the Emperor lent his authority to their false accusations.

From Project Gutenberg

He surveyed his man more closely; but the inspection lent no colour to his suspicions.

From Project Gutenberg