English

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Etymology

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From shrove, past tense of shrive (to receive a confession), from the mediaeval practice of priests hearing confessions before Lent, and Tuesday.

Noun

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Shrove Tuesday (plural Shrove Tuesdays)

  1. The day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday.
    Coordinate term: Fat Thursday
    • 1712, Erra Pater, A Prognostication for Ever, Made by Erra Pater, page 7:
      Observe when the Moon is new in February, the next Tuesday after is Shrove-tuesday: but if it change on Tuesday, then the next Tuesday following is Shrove-tuesday
    • 1779, David Dalyrymple, Annals of Scotland From the Accenssion of Robert I, page 283:
      The day appointed for this extraordinary hunting-party was Shrove Tuesday. The Protestants of Paisley, in whose neighbourhood this story may be said to have originated, cannot discern the difference betwixt Shrove Tuesday and any other Tuesday; but if a Roman Catholic Princess, even in our free times, should be invited to a hunting-match on Shrove Tuesday, she would be shocked at the profane invitation.

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See also

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Further reading

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