Caledonian
/ˌkalɪˈdəʊnɪən
/adjective
1(Chiefly in names or geographical terms) relating to Scotland or the Scottish Highlands: the Caledonian Railway...
- There is also a suggestion that the match against Japan could be played in the Caledonian region to reward Scotland's most northerly region for its crucial and growing contribution to the national squad.
- Perhaps there is already a corner of a Caledonian bar being named in his honour.
- The stronghold for many of these species is in the Caledonian pinewoods of Scotland, although colonies are also recorded in the New Forest and Windsor Forest.
2 Geology Relating to or denoting a mountain-forming period (orogeny) in NW Europe and Greenland during the Lower Palaeozoic era, especially the late Silurian.Avalonia drifted rapidly northwards, opening the Rheic ocean until it collided with Laurentia in the Silurian during the Caledonian orogeny....
- The mechanically weak phyllitic layer acted as the basal thrust or décollement zone during the Caledonian orogeny.
- The Caledonian orogeny in East Greenland was the result of the collision of Baltica with the margin of Eaurentia.
noun
1chiefly humorous or literary A person from Scotland.But the Romans never subdued the northern tribes - variously referred to as Brigantes, Caledonians and Picts - who repeatedly launched raids into the mighty Roman Empire....
- It is not till AD.300 that we read of the Caledonians and other Picts; in the 4th century they frequently harried the Romans up to the wall of Hadrian, between Tyne and Soiway.
- It had always been hoped that the Scottish parliament would divert the attention of fractious Caledonians away from England-bashing.
2 (the Caledonian) Geology The Caledonian orogeny.Unlike other Late Palaeozoic orogens, most notably the Appalachian, Variscan and Caledonian, the Uralide orogen did not undergo major post-orogenic extension....
- Finally, later workers such as Baird and Rathbone et al. have concluded that the thrust movement occurred after the metamorphic climax, and is Caledonian in age.
- D2 can be shown to be Caledonian in age, because the associated SZ cleavage is also found in Early Cambrian Skolithos-bearing sandstones.
Origin
From Caledonia, the Latin name for northern Britain, + -an.