Shrove Tuesday

The second element is Tuesday; the first element may be a reflex of Old English *scrāf “confession” (related to the modern verb shrive), from the medieval practice of priests hearing confessions on this day.

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.

• Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday
• Pancake Day
• Pancake Tuesday
• Carnival

• Shrovetide

• Shrove Tuesday on Wikipedia.Wikipedia