Ash Wednesday
the first day of Lent.
Origin of Ash Wednesday
1Words Nearby Ash Wednesday
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use Ash Wednesday in a sentence
The period at which the fast of Ash-Wednesday was instituted is uncertain; but it probably dates from the eighth century at least.
Who has not sometimes entered a convent church on leaving a ball-room,—in the early morning hours of Ash-Wednesday, for instance?
Russia: Its People and Its Literature | Emilia Pardo BazánBy next Ash Wednesday, I will have learned how to fast without getting sick!
A Confederate Girl's Diary | Sarah Margan DawsonHe promptly professed to be converted and was baptized on Ash-Wednesday 1677.
The Jesuits, 1534-1921 | Thomas J. CampbellLent, a time of fasting; the time from Ash-Wednesday to Easter.
British Dictionary definitions for Ash Wednesday
the first day of Lent, named from the practice of Christians of placing ashes on their heads as a sign of penitence
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for Ash Wednesday
The seventh Wednesday before Easter; the first day of Lent for most Christians (see also Christian); the day after “Fat Tuesday,” or Mardi Gras. It is frequently observed as a day of fasting and repentance for sin. In some churches, ashes are placed on the foreheads of worshipers on Ash Wednesday as a reminder of their mortality. The words of God to Adam in the Bible (see also Bible) are often used in the ceremony: “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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