The Collaborative International Dictionary
Druid \Dru"id\, n. [L. Druides; of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. & Gael. draoi, druidh, magician, Druid, W. derwydd Druid.]
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One of an order of priests which in ancient times existed among certain branches of the Celtic race, especially among the Gauls and Britons.
Note: The Druids superintended the affairs of religion and morality, and exercised judicial functions. They practiced divination and magic, and sacrificed human victims as a part of their worship. They consisted of three classes; the bards, the vates or prophets, and the Druids proper, or priests. Their most sacred rites were performed in the depths of oak forests or of caves.
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A member of a social and benevolent order, founded in London in 1781, and professedly based on the traditions of the ancient Druids. Lodges or groves of the society are established in other countries.
Druid stones, a name given, in the south of England, to weatherworn, rough pillars of gray sandstone scattered over the chalk downs, but in other countries generally in the form of circles, or in detached pillars.
Usage examples of "druid stones".
It is very thickly grown, and rises to a clearer part in the centre, a sort of mound where there is a circle of large boulders-- old Druid stones, I'm told.
Some hunters had seen you pass yesterday with a strange woman, across the moor of Druid stones.
He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, imagining the circle of druid stones and the rocky valleys on the side of Skiddaw.