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.
See lent in Webster's New World College Dictionary
transitive verb, intransitive verb
noun
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
noun
Origin:
Origin: Middle English lenten, lente, spring, Lent
Origin: , from Old English lencten; see del-1 in Indo-European roots
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