lent

The definition of lent is the past tense of lend, meaning to let someone have something temporarily.

(verb)

A library having let you take a book to read is an example of lent.

Lent is defined as a period of 40 days that Christians observe from Ash Wednesday to Easter, often marked by giving something up.

(noun)

An example of Lent is the time that you give up something like smoking for 40 days.

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See lent in Webster's New World College Dictionary

transitive verb, intransitive verb

lend

noun

  1. the period of forty weekdays from Ash Wednesday to Easter, observed variously in Christian churches by fasting and penitence
  2. in the Middle Ages, the period from Martinmas (November 11) to Christmas

Origin: ME lenten < OE lengten, the spring < Gmc *langat-tin < base of long + *tina-, day < IE base *dei-, to shine > L dies, day: from the lengthening of the days in the spring; akin to Ger lenz, spring

See lent in American Heritage Dictionary 4

verb
Past tense and past participle of lend.

noun
The 40 weekdays from Ash Wednesday until Easter observed by Christians as a season of fasting and penitence in preparation for Easter.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English lenten, lente, spring, Lent

Origin: , from Old English lencten; see del-1 in Indo-European roots

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