Eccl. [med.L., fem. (sc. dies day) of L. quadrāgēsimus fortieth, f. quadrāgintā forty; hence also It., Pg. quadragesima (Sp. cuad-), F. quadragésime (1487).
The popular Romanic forms are It. quaresima, Pg. quaresma, Sp. cuaresma, OF. quaresme, caresme, F. carême; cf. also Ir. corghas, cairghios, Gael. carghus, W. garawys from pop. Lat. *quarages-ima.]
† a. The forty days of Lent. Obs. b. (Also Quadragesima Sunday.) The first Sunday in Lent.
[1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IX. xxx. (1495), 364. Lente highte Quadragesima.]
1604. Bk. Com. Prayer Tables, Quadragesima, before Easter, vi weekes.
1617. Minsheu, Ductor, Quadragesima Sunday, or the first Sunday in Lent. Ibid., Quadragesima is the first Sunday in Lent.
1662. Bk. Com. Prayer Tables, Quadragesima, six weeks before Easter.
1662. Gunning, Lent Fast, 167. A Quadragesima all call’d it.
1665. Evelyn, Corr., 9 Feb. (1872), III. 151. I have always esteemed abstinence a tanto beyond the fulfilling of periods and quadragesimas.
1794. W. Tindal, Hist. Evesham, 34. He was on Quadragesima Sunday confirmed Abbot.
