[f. ASH sb.2 + WEDNESDAY.] The first day of Lent; so called from the custom in the Roman Catholic Church of sprinkling ashes on the heads of penitents on that day.
1297. R. Glouc., 542. An Ax wednesdai … To Gloucetre he wende.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls Ser.), VI. 429. In an Aschewednesday.
1539. Bk. Cerem., in Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. App. cix. 291. The giving of ashes upon Ashwednesday, with these words, ‘Remember, man, that thou art ashes and to ashes thou shalt return.’
1834. Penny Cycl., II. 454/2. Pope Gregory the Great introduced the sprinkling of ashes … which gave it the name of Ash-Wednesday.
