Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Quadragesima \Quad`ra*ges"i*ma\, n. [L., fr. quadragesimus the
   fortieth, fr. quadraginta forty; akin to quattuor four. See
   {Four}.] (Eccl.)
   The forty days of fast preceding Easter; Lent.

   {Quadragesima Sunday}, the first Sunday in Lent, about forty
      days before Easter.