Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
CULDEE, n. A member of an ascetic religious movement in the Celtic Church in Ireland and Scotland (8th–early 14th cent.), originally of anchorites, later organised in independent communities under an Abbot and finally absorbed into the canonical orders of the Roman Church. Hist. [′kʌldi]Sc. 1705 J. Dalrymple Coll. Sc. Hist. 130:
We have furder Accounts of the Culdees from their possessions mentioned in the Excerpt [of the Register of the Priory of St Andrews].Sc. 1935 W. D. Simpson Celtic Church in Scot. 116:
Among the communities of Culdees, the Celtic Church survived in one case — that of St Andrews — until as late as 1332.
