Lent (root: lend)

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Lent, imp. & p. p. 

 imp. & p. p. of Lend.  [1913 Webster]

Lent, n. [OE. lente, lenten, leynte, AS. lengten, lencten, spring, lent, akin to D. lente, OHG. lenzin, langiz, G. lenz, and perh. fr. AS. lang long, E. long, because at this season of the year the days lengthen.].

 A fast of forty days, beginning with Ash Wednesday and continuing till Easter, observed by some Christian churches as commemorative of the fast of our Savior.  [1913 Webster]

Lent lily (Bot.), the daffodil; -- so named from its blossoming in spring.

Lent, a. [L. lentus; akin to lenis soft, mild: cf. F. lent. See Lenient.].

•  Slow; mild; gentle; as, lenter heats.  B. Jonson.  [1913 Webster]
•  See Lento.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Lent, n.
1 Eccl. the period from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, of which the 40 weekdays are devoted to fasting and penitence in commemoration of Christ's fasting in the wilderness.
2 (in pl.) the boat races held at Cambridge in the Lent term.

Idiom

Lent lily Brit. a daffodil, esp. a wild one. Lent term Brit. the term at a university etc. in which Lent falls.

Etymology

ME f. LENTEN

Lent, past and past part. of LEND.

THESAURUS

Lent

Advent, Allhallowmas, Allhallows, Allhallowtide, Annunciation, Annunciation Day, Ascension Day, Ash Wednesday, Candlemas, Candlemas Day, Carnival, Christmas, Corpus Christi, Easter, Easter Monday, Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday, Eastertide, Ember days, Epiphany, Good Friday, Halloween, Hallowmas, Holy Thursday, Holy Week, Lady Day, Lammas, Lammas Day, Lammastide, Lententide, Mardi Gras, Martinmas, Maundy Thursday, Michaelmas, Michaelmas Day, Michaelmastide, Ninth of Av, Palm Sunday, Pancake Day, Passion Week, Pentecost, Quadragesima, Quadragesima Sunday, Ramadan, Septuagesima, Shrove Tuesday, Trinity Sunday, Twelfth-day, Twelfth-tide, Whit-Tuesday, White Sunday, Whitmonday, Whitsun, Whitsunday, Whitsuntide, Whitweek, Yom Kippur, fast day, jour maigre

ROGET THESAURUS

Lent

Lending

N lending, loan, advance, accommodation, feneration, mortgage, second mortgage, home loan, investment, note, bond, commercial paper, mont de piete, pawnshop, my uncle's, lender, pawnbroker, money lender, usurer, loan shark, loaner (of item loaned), lending, lent, unborrowed &c (borrowed), in advance, on loan, on security.

Rite

N rite, ceremony, ritual, liturgy, ceremonial, ordinance, observance, function, duty, form, formulary, solemnity, sacrament, incantation, service, psalmody, ministration, preaching, preachment, predication, sermon, homily, lecture, discourse, pastoral, baptism, christening, chrism, circumcision, baptismal regeneration, font, confirmation, imposition of hands, laying on of hands, ordination, excommunication, Bar Mitzvah, Bas Mitzvah, Bris, Eucharist, Lord's supper, communion, the sacrament, the holy sacrament, celebration, high celebration, missa cantata, asperges, offertory, introit, consecration, consubstantiation, transubstantiation, real presence, elements, mass, high mass, low mass, dry mass, matrimony, burial, visitation of the sick, seven sacraments, impanation, subpanation, extreme unction, viaticum, invocation of saints, canonization, transfiguration, auricular confession, maceration, flagellation, sackcloth and ashes, penance, telling of beads, processional, thurification, incense, holy water, aspersion, relics, rosary, beads, reliquary, host, cross, rood, crucifix, pax, pyx, agnus Dei, censer, thurible, patera, eileton, Holy Grail, prayer machine, prayer wheel, Sangraal, urceus, ritualism, ceremonialism, sabbatism, sabbatarianism, ritualist, sabbatarian, holyday, feast, fast, Sabbath, Pentecost, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Passion week, Holy week, Easter, Easter Sunday, Whitsuntide, agape, Ascension Day, Candlemas, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Holy Thursday, Lammas, Martinmas, Michaelmas, All SAint's DAy, All Souls' Day, Ramadan, Ramazan, Bairam Passover, Shabuoth, Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement, Rosh Hashana, New Year, Hanukkah, Chanukkah, Feast of Lights, Purim, Feast of lots, ritual, ritualistic, ceremonial, baptismal, eucharistical, paschal, what art thou, thou idol ceremony?.

Fasting

N fasting, xerophagy, famishment, starvation, fast, jour maigre, fast day, banyan day, Lent, quadragesima, Ramadan, Ramazan, spare diet, meager diet, lenten diet, lenten entertainment, soupe maigre, short commons, Barmecide feast, short rations, lenten, quadragesimal, unfed, starved, half-starved, fasting, hungry.