Lent

[lent] /lɛnt/

verb
1.
simple past tense and past participle of .
[lent] /lɛnt/
noun
1.
(in the Christian religion) an annual season of fasting and penitence in preparation for Easter, beginning on Ash Wednesday and lasting 40 weekdays to Easter, observed by Roman Catholic, Anglican, and certain other churches.
[lend] /lɛnd/
verb (used with object), lent, lending.
1.
to grant the use of (something) on condition that it or its equivalent will be returned.
2.
to give (money) on condition that it is returned and that interest is paid for its temporary use.
3.
to give or contribute obligingly or helpfully:
to lend one’s aid to a cause.
4.
to adapt (oneself or itself) to something:
The building should lend itself to inexpensive remodeling.
5.
to furnish or impart:
Distance lends enchantment to the view.
verb (used without object), lent, lending.
6.
to make a loan.
Idioms
7.
lend a hand, to give help; aid:
If everyone lends a hand, we can have dinner ready in half an hour.
1.
a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, variant of :
pestilent.
/lɛnt/
verb
1.
the past tense and past participle of lend
/lɛnt/
noun
1.
(Christianity) the period of forty weekdays lasting from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, observed as a time of penance and fasting commemorating Jesus’ fasting in the wilderness
2.
(modifier) falling within or associated with the season before Easter: Lent observance
3.
(pl) (at Cambridge University) Lent term boat races
/lɛnd/
verb lends, lending, lent (lɛnt)
1.
(transitive) to permit the use of (something) with the expectation of return of the same or an equivalent
2.
to provide (money) temporarily, often at interest
3.
(intransitive) to provide loans, esp as a profession
4.
(transitive) to impart or contribute (something, esp some abstract quality): her presence lent beauty
5.
(transitive) to provide, esp in order to assist or support: he lent his skill to the company
6.
lend an ear, to listen
7.
lend itself, to possess the right characteristics or qualities for: the novel lends itself to serialization
8.
lend oneself, to give support, cooperation, etc
n.

late 14c., short for Lenten (n.) “forty days before Easter” (early 12c.), from Old English lencten “springtime, spring,” the season, also “the fast of Lent,” from West Germanic *langa-tinaz “long-days” (cf. Old Saxon lentin, Middle Dutch lenten, Old High German lengizin manoth), from *lanngaz (root of Old English lang “long;” see long (adj.)) + *tina-, a root meaning “day” (cf. Gothic sin-teins “daily”), cognate with Old Church Slavonic dini, Lithuanian diena, Latin dies “day” (see diurnal).

the compound probably refers to the increasing daylight. Cf. similar form evolution in Dutch lente (Middle Dutch lentin), German Lenz (Old High German lengizin) “spring.” Church sense of “period between Ash Wednesday and Easter” is peculiar to English.
v.

late 14c., from Old English lænan “to lend,” from læn “loan” (see loan). Cognate with Dutch lenen, Old High German lehanon, German lehnen, also verbs derived from nouns. Past tense form, with terminal -d, became the principal form in Middle English on analogy of bend, send, etc.

In Christianity, a time of fasting and repentance in the spring, beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending several weeks later on Easter.

Note: To “give something up for Lent” is to abandon a pleasurable habit as an act of devotion and self-discipline.