lent
- simple past tense and past participle of lend.
Lent
- (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.
Origin of Lent
lend
- to grant the use of (something) on condition that it or its equivalent will be returned.
- to give (money) on condition that it is returned and that interest is paid for its temporary use.
- to give or contribute obligingly or helpfully: to lend one's aid to a cause.
- to adapt (oneself or itself) to something: The building should lend itself to inexpensive remodeling.
- to furnish or impart: Distance lends enchantment to the view.
- to make a loan.
- lend a hand, to give help; aid: If everyone lends a hand, we can have dinner ready in half an hour.
Origin of lend
-lent
- a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, variant of -ulent: pestilent.
Examples from the Web for lent
Contemporary Examples
Like Lent, the season of Advent was a period of reflection and fasting, and items such as dairy and sugar were forbidden.
Shortly thereafter, T.I. lent his first post-incarceration verse to a remix of “Magic.”
Future Makes Us Rethink Everything We Thought We Knew About Rap ArtistsLuke Hopping
December 15, 2014
In return we lent the hospitable Post our halftones, and they adorned its first city edition next morning.
Oleksiy Kosarev, leader of a local anti-corruption organization, lent some credence to this conception.
When she was finally arrested, the Delle Donnas lent her $5,000 to retain an attorney, a source close to the case told me.
Historical Examples
But the damage would not have happened if Will had not lent the boat to me.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
Lent her by Father Christopher of the priory, forsooth—that is ever her answer.
The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
And the books are lent to any person in each section who wishes to read them?
In the Midst of AlarmsRobert Barr
What may we not do with them, if it were not for the season of Lent?
The officers came down at night, and lent us a hand with the work.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
lent
- the past tense and past participle of lend
Lent
- 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
- (modifier) falling within or associated with the season before EasterLent observance
- (plural) (at Cambridge University) Lent term boat races
Word Origin
lend
- (tr) to permit the use of (something) with the expectation of return of the same or an equivalent
- to provide (money) temporarily, often at interest
- (intr) to provide loans, esp as a profession
- (tr) to impart or contribute (something, esp some abstract quality)her presence lent beauty
- (tr) to provide, esp in order to assist or supporthe lent his skill to the company
- lend an ear to listen
- lend itself to possess the right characteristics or qualities forthe novel lends itself to serialization
- lend oneself to give support, cooperation, etc
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for lent
Lent
n.
late 14c., short for Lenten (n.) "forty days before Easter" (early 12c.), from Old English lencten "springtime, spring," the season, also "the fast of Lent," from West Germanic *langa-tinaz "long-days" (cf. Old Saxon lentin, Middle Dutch lenten, Old High German lengizin manoth), from *lanngaz (root of Old English lang "long;" see long (adj.)) + *tina-, a root meaning "day" (cf. Gothic sin-teins "daily"), cognate with Old Church Slavonic dini, Lithuanian diena, Latin dies "day" (see diurnal).
the compound probably refers to the increasing daylight. Cf. similar form evolution in Dutch lente (Middle Dutch lentin), German Lenz (Old High German lengizin) "spring." Church sense of "period between Ash Wednesday and Easter" is peculiar to English.
lend
v.
late 14c., from Old English lænan "to lend," from læn "loan" (see loan). Cognate with Dutch lenen, Old High German lehanon, German lehnen, also verbs derived from nouns. Past tense form, with terminal -d, became the principal form in Middle English on analogy of bend, send, etc.
Lent
In Christianity, a time of fasting and repentance in the spring, beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending several weeks later on Easter.