Bel"tane (?), n. [Gael. bealltainn, bealltuinn.]

1.

The first day of May (Old Style).

The quarter-days anciently in Scotland were Hallowmas, Candlemas, Beltane, and Lammas. New English Dict.

2.

A festival of the heathen Celts on the first day of May, in the observance of which great bonfires were kindled. It still exists in a modified form in some parts of Scotland and Ireland.

 

© Webster 1913.