morally rigorous and strict; "blue laws"; "the puritan work ethic"; "puritanic distaste for alcohol"; "she was anything but puritanical in her behavior"
A term first used about 1570 for English Protestants who wanted to "purify" the Church of England of ceremony and ritual not found in the scriptures At first they simply wanted to reform their church, but by 1620, many were "separatists" who wanted to start their own churches There were never many separatist Puritans in England because they tended emigrate to America During the time of the Parliamentary Wars (or Civil War) 1642-1649, Puritans in England were called "Roundheads" because of the way they cropped their hair So, Col Daniel Axtell was a Roundhead The Royalists who supported the king were "Cavaliers" with long, flowing hair All of the English settlements in Massachusetts--both the Plymouth Colony of 1620 and the Massachusetts Bay Colony of 1630--were settled by Puritans Puritans included people from all of English society and from all parts of England They were all over the map and it's hard to make generalizations
n any member of a Protestant group in England and the American colonies who, in the 16th and 17th century, wanted to make the Church of England simpler in its services and stricter about morals
{i} one who is strict on religious issues; one who is strict on moral issues; one who supports modesty and simplicity
One who, in the time of Queen Elizabeth and the first two Stuarts, opposed traditional and formal usages, and advocated simpler forms of faith and worship than those established by law; originally, a term of reproach