Puritan

Probably from purity +‎ -an, because they sought to purify Church of England worship of what they perceived as Roman Catholic aspects. The capitalised form preceded the lowercase form puritan.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpjʊɹɪtən/, /ˈpjɝɪtən/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpjʊəɹɪtən/, /ˈpjɔːɹɪtən/
• Hyphenation: Pu‧ri‧tan

Puritan (plural Puritans)

1. A member of a particular Protestant religious sect advocating greater purity and piety.

• Puritanism

Puritan (comparative more Puritan, superlative most Puritan)

1. Alternative letter-case form of puritan.
   • 1989, Michael Palin, Around the World in 80 Days, BBC Books, →ISBN, page 111:

     It’s a seedy time of the night and Jacky is telling me about sailors and their needs. A man called P. C. Alexander, an ex-Indian High-Commissioner in London has cleaned up Madras. There’s a very Puritan atmosphere here now, and the seamen are not happy. ‘All ship’s crew very happy with Calcutta. Can bring many girls there. Bombay too – no problem.’ Bombay is apparently the only city in India to license prostitutes.

   • 2009, Melissa Stackhouse, “Conversations with Bigwigs: Melissa Stackhouse”, in Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, Drink This: Wine Made Simple, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, chapter 5 (Chardonnay: Chic and Changeable), page 121:

     Chardonnay is very malleable, but once we get the fruit in we actually take a very Puritan approach to it.

   • 2019, Susan L. Popham, “Teaching Editing through a Feminist Theoretical Lens”, in Suzan Flanagan, Michael J. Albers, editors, Editing in the Modern Classroom, Routledge, →ISBN:

     I learned to work from my grandfather, who held a very Puritan kind of work ethic.

• tanpuri, train up, uptrain