King James Bible Dictionary

LENT, participle passive of lend.

LENT, noun

The quadragesimal fast, or fast of forty days observed by the christian church before Easter, the festival of our Savior's resurrection. It begins at Ash Wednesday, and continues till Easter.

LENT'EN, adjective Pertaining to lent; used in lent; sparing; as a lenten entertainment; a lenten salad.

LENTIC'ULAR, adjective [Latin lenticularis, from lens, supra.]

1. Resembling a lentil.

2. Having the form of a lens; lentiform.

LENTIC'ULARLY, adverb In the manner of a lens; with a curve.

LENTIC'ULITE, noun A petrified shell.

LENT'IFORM, adjective [Latin lens and forma, form.] Of the form of a lens.

LENTIG'INOUS, adjective [Latin lentigo, a freckle, from Latin lens.] Freckly; scurfy; furfuraceous.

LENTI'GO, noun A freckly eruption on the skin.

LEN'TIL, noun [Latin lens.] A plant of the genus Ervum. It is an annual plant, rising with weak stalks about 18 inches. The seeds, which are contained in a pod, are round, flat, and a little convex in the middle. It is cultivated for fodder, and for its seeds.

(Heb. adashim), a species of vetch (Genesis 25:34; 2 Samuel 23:11), common in Syria under the name addas. The red pottage made by Jacob was of lentils (Genesis 25:29-34). They were among the provisions brought to David when he fled from Absalom (2 Samuel 17:28). It is the Ervum lens of Linnaeus, a leguminous plant which produces a fruit resembling a bean.

Genesis 25:34; 2 Samuel 17:28; 2 Samuel 23:11; Ezekiel 4:9

(Heb. 'adashim), a leguminous plant bearing seeds resembling small beans. The red pottage which Jacob prepared and for which Esau sold his birthright was made from them. (Genesis 25:34) There are three of four kinds of lentils, all of which are much esteemed in those countries where they are grown, viz., the south of Europe, Asia and north Africa. The red lentil is still a favorite article of food in the East. Lentil bread is eaten by the poor of Egypt. The lentil is much used with other pulse in Roman Catholic countries during Lent; and some are of opinion that from this usage the season derives its name.

LENTIS'CUS, noun [Latin lentiscus ]

A tree of the genus Pistacia, the mastichtree, a native of Arabia, Persia, Syria, and the south of Europe. The wood is of a pale brown, resinous and fragrant. [See Mastich.]

LEN'TISK,

LENT'ITUDE, noun [Latin lectus, slow.] Slowness. [Not used.]

LENT'NER, noun A kind of hawk.

LENT'OR, noun [Latin from lentus, slow, tough, clammy.]

1. Tenacity; viscousness.

2. Slowness; delay; sluggishness.

3. Siziness; thickness of fluids; viscidity; a term used in the humoral pathology.

LENT'OUS, adjective [Latin lentus, slow, thick.] Viscid; viscous; tenacious.