Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SHROVE'-TIDE, or SHROVE-TUES'DAY, n. [from shrove, pret. of shrive, to take a confession. See Tide and Tuesday.]

Confession-time; confession-Tuesday; the Tuesday after Quinquagesima Sunday, or the day immediately preceding the first of Lent, or Ash Wednesday; on which day, all the people of England when papists, where obliged to confess their sins one by one to their parish priests; after which they dined on pancakes or fritters. The latter practice still continues. The bell rung on this day is called pancake-bell. – Encyc.