[pu.ri.tan] n [prob. fr. LL puritas purity] (1572) 1 cap: a member of a 16th and 17th century Protestant group in England and New England opposing as unscriptural the ceremonial worship and the prelacy of the Church of England
2: one who practices or preaches a more rigorous or professedly purer moral code than that which prevails
[2]puritan adj, often cap (1589): of or relating to puritans, the Puritans, or puritanism