Lenten

Old English lenten, lencten.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛntən/

Lenten (comparative more Lenten, superlative most Lenten)

1. Pertaining to Lent; taking place during Lent.
   • 1644, John Milton, Aeropagitica:

     And perhaps it was the same politick drift that the Divell whipt St. Jerom in a lenten dream, for reading Cicero [...].

2. Appropriate to Lent; meagre, sombre.
   • 1602, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, II.2:

     To thinke, my Lord, if you delight not in Man, what Lenton entertainment the Players shall receiue from you [...].

   • A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad, XXIX, line 8-10:

     And there's the Lenten lily / That has not long to stay / And dies on Easter day.