Forms: 3–5 leinte, leynte, 4–6 lente, 6– lent. [Shortened from LENTEN.]
1. The season of spring. Obs. exc. in Comb. (see 4).
c. 1275. Lay., 30626. Þar after com leinte [c. 1205 leinten] and daȝes gonne longy.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VI. 107. Þe evenes of þe day and of þe nyȝt is ones in þe Lente, and efte in hervest.
2. Eccl. The period including 40 weekdays extending from Ash-Wednesday to Easter-eve, observed as a time of fasting and penitence, in commemoration of Our Lord’s fasting in the wilderness. † Also Clean Lent.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 229/352. Fram þulke tyme forto in leinte no lond huy ne i-seiȝe.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIII. 350. As wel in lente as oute of lente.
c. 1400. A. Davy, Dreams, 117. On Wedenysday in clene leinte.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 12. An ȝif if it be in lente, lef þe ȝolkys of Eyroun.
1527. Warden’s Acc. Morebath, Devon, The 2 Sonday in clene Lente.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 241. The first Sondaie in Lent, Stephyn Gardiner Bishop of Winchester, preached at Paules crosse.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. iv. 143. An old Hare hoare is very good meat in Lent.
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle, IV. 1434. Cocus … hath an intent, To curry favour, to dresse meat in Lent.
1769. Gray, in Corr. with Nicholls (1843), 87. Palgrave keeps Lent at home, and wants to be asked to break it.
1797–1809. Coleridge, Three Graves, xix. Ellen always kept her church All church-days during Lent.
1861. M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 46. Many a cargo of salt cod for Lent … was there.
b. An instance of this; the Lent of some specified year.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 251. But þe nexte Lente [MSS. α and β leynte] þerafter he wente into Normandie.
1538. Coverdale, N. T., Ded. to Cromwell. This last lent I dyd with all humblenesse directe an Epistle vnto the kynges most noble grace.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., II. iv. 376. What is a Ioynt of Mutton, or two, in a whole Lent?
1740. Gray, Let., Poems (1775), 78. The diversions of a Florentine Lent.
1842. Tennyson, St. Sim. Styl., 179. If it may be, fast Whole Lents, and pray.
c. transf. (cf. 3 b) and fig.
1598. Tofte, Alba (1880), 102. The Carnouale of my sweet Love is past, Now comes the Lent of my long Hate at last.
1599. H. Buttes, Dyets drie Dinner, A a iij. Spice sweetens White-meats Lent.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage, Descr. India (1864), 157. After that weeke of cleane Lent without eating or drinking.
1634. Bp. Hall, Charac. Man (1635), 6. If, in the former, there be a sad Lent of mortification; there is in the latter, a chearful Easter of our raising and exaltation.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., V. xiii. 408. He is half starv’d in the lent of a long vacation.
1660. Milton, Free Commw., Wks. 1851, V. 421. Before so long a Lent of Servitude, they may permit us a little Shroving-time first, wherin to speak freely.
1713. Swift, Cadenus & Van., 90. There live with daggled mermaids pent, And keep on fish perpetual lent.
d. pl. At Cambridge: The Lent-term boat-races.
1893. Westm. Gaz., 27 Feb., 11/2. In the ‘Lents’ on Saturday both Jesus and Trinity Hall pursued their victorious career.
† 3. In extended senses. a. A period of forty days, esp. in lent of pardon, an indulgence of forty days.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 158 b/2. There is seuen yere and seuen lentys of pardon.
1502. Arnolde, Chron., 146. And aboue this is grauntyd xxviij. C. yere of pardon, and the merytis of as many lentis or karyns.
1535. Godly Primer, Admon. to Rdr. Promising moche grace, and many yeres, dayes, and lentes of pardon.
† b. A period of fasting prescribed by any religious system. Obs.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Eng. Wks. (1880), 41. Þo holy lenten þat bygynneþ fro þe twelþe day of cristemasse to þe fulle fourti daics.
1555. Eden, Decades, 99. They haue obserued a longer and sharper lent then euer yowre holinesse inioyned.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 541. They observe their houres, and two Fasts or Lents.
1653. Greaves, Seraglio, 143. The Ramazan being ended, which is their day-lent.
1718. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to C’tess [Bristol], Lett. 1887, I. 241. Their lents … are at least seven months in every year.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., The antient Latin monks had three Lents; the grand Lent before Easter; another before Christmas, called the Lent of S. Martin; and a third after Whitsunday, called the Lent of S. John Baptist: each of which consisted of forty days.
1757. Hume, Ess., Nat. Hist. Relig. (1817), II. 446. The four lents of the Muscovites.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xlvii. (1788), IV. 604. Five annual lents, during which both the clergy and laity abstain … even from the taste of wine [etc.].
4. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 1) lent-corn, -crop, -grain(s; lent-sown adj.; (sense 2) Lent-diet, -fast, -meat, -provisions, -season, -seed, -sermon, -stuff, -time; † Lent-cloth, a cloth hung before images in Lent; lent-lily, (a) the yellow daffodil, Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus; (b) adj. of the color of this flower; lent-rose = lent-lily (a); also, in S. Devon, N. biflorus (Britten & Holland); Lent-term (at the Universities), the term in which Lent falls.
1495–6. in Swayne, Churchw. Acc. Sarum (1896), 45. Pro anulis pro le *lentecloth coram S. Nich. Ep. iijd., et pro factura eiusdem iiijd.
1552. Inv. Ch. Goods (Surtees), 44. One great clothe of canves cauled Lente clothe.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 148. Vnto the tyme that thou haue sowen agayne thy wynter-corne & thy *lente-corne.
1889. N. W. Linc. Gloss., Lent-corn, barley and oats; also beans, if sown in the spring.
1744–50. W. Ellis, Mod. Husbandm., II. I. 113. Whether it be a Wheat, or *Lent-Crop, that is set on the Soils, Rolling is one main Preservative of such a Crop.
1855. Morton, Cycl. Agric., II. 721/2. Breach or Lent Crops (East Eng. &c.), all spring crops.
1732. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, 286. In a *Lent Diet People commonly fall away.
1651. C. Cartwright, Cert. Relig., II. 58. And the like also for the different manner of observing the *Lent-fast in respect of the time.
1744–50. W. Ellis, Mod. Husbandm., II. I. 55. The two first [sc. Barley and Pease] as well as Oats, etc. are called *Lent-Grains, as being to be sown about Lent time.
1869. Lonsdale Gloss., Lent-grain, the spring crops.
1826–7. K. Digby, Broadst. Hon. (1846), II. 364. The early daffodil was *Lent-lily.
1872. Tennyson, Gareth & Lynette, 911. A silk pavilion … all Lent-lily in hue.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 67. Ete nu *leinte mete and enes o dai.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 375 b/1. In aduent he ete neuer but lente mete.
1663–4. Pepys, Diary, 10 Feb. My wife … being with my aunt Wight to day to buy *Lent provisions.
1796. W. Marshall, W. Eng., I. 328. *Lent rose … the Narcissus or Daffodil.
1573. Baret, Alv., L 284. *Lent season, quadragesima.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XIII. 190. Lynne-seed and lik-seed and *lente-seedes alle.
a. 1695. Wood, Ath. Oxon. (1899), III. 178. And therin doth the Vicechancellour sit, to heare the *Lent-sermons preached.
1795. Gentl. Mag., 539/2. The dryness of April and May was against the vegetation of the *Lent-sown seed.
1573. Tusser, Husb., lvi. (1878), 37. Take shipping or ride *Lent stuffe to prouide.
1721. Amherst, Terræ Filius, No. 42 (1754), 223. These disputations … are so order’d, that they last all *Lent-time.
