Shrove Tuesday
- noun
- /ʃroʊv ˈtjuːzdeɪ/
:
Martes de Carnaval
- People celebrate Shrove Tuesday with feasting and festivities before the fasting period of Lent begins.
Examples
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Churches often hold special services on Shrove Tuesday to prepare for the start of Lent.
-
The next day is Shrove Tuesday.
Academic text (2007) -
On Shrove Tuesday, many families gather to make and enjoy pancakes together.
Synonyms
3
4.3
A day of feasting and parties before Lent, also called Mardi Gras
1
4.0
The day before Lent when people eat pancakes
1
3.7
The last day before Lent when people have parades and parties
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly built from the parts: 'shrove' (to be shriven / have confession) + 'Tuesday' yields the Tuesday on which people are shriven — i.e., the day before Ash Wednesday associated with confession and pre-Lenten celebration. This composition is transparent (and has clear cross-linguistic parallels like Mardi Gras / Fat Tuesday), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE's basic meaning.
Etymology
The name Shrove Tuesday comes from the old word shrove, from 'shrive' meaning 'to confess', because people went to church to confess before 'Lent'. It was also the last day to use up eggs, milk and butter before the fast, so many people made pancakes, which is why we still eat pancakes on that day.