Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • An ancient kingdom of southern Mesopotamia. Founded c. 1000 BC, it eventually came to dominate Babylonia, reaching the height of its power under Nebuchadnezzar II. The Chaldean empire was destroyed by Persians in 539 BC.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun a nation in the southern portion of Babylonia, Lower Mesopotamia, lying chiefly on the right bank of the Euphrates, but commonly used to refer to the whole of the Mesopotamian plain.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an ancient kingdom in southern Mesopotamia; Babylonia conquered Israel in the 6th century BC and exiled the Jews to Babylon (where Daniel became a counselor to the king)
  • noun an ancient region of Mesopotamia lying between the Euphrates delta and the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Desert; settled in 1000 BC and destroyed by the Persians in 539 BC; reached the height of its power under Nebuchadnezzar II

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek Χαλδαία (Khaldaia).

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Examples

  • Hebrew who had not lived in Chaldea would know Chaldee so well as to use it with the same idiomatic ease as his native tongue; the very impurities in Daniel's use of both are just such as were natural to one in his circumstances, but unnatural to one in a later age, or to one not half Hebrew, half Chaldean in residence as Daniel was.

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • So far from being fortunate as the exiles in Chaldea regarded them, the

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • And beyond the river of Tigris is Chaldea, that is a full great kingdom.

    The Travels of Sir John Mandeville 2004

  • Chaldean usage during the sojourn of Daniel and Ezekiel in Chaldea.

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • As a priest, when sent into exile, his service was but transferred from the visible temple at Jerusalem to the spiritual temple in Chaldea.

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • The study of dementia was, of course, outside his special province as a specialist, but he knew enough of it to understand how small a matter might be the actual cause of how great an illusion, and he had been devoured from the very beginning by a ceaseless and increasing anxiety to know what the professor had found in the sands of "Chaldea," what these precious

    Four Weird Tales Algernon Blackwood 1910

  • Babylonia, a part of Lower Mesopotamia, 7; excessive flatness of, 9; later name for "Shumir and Accad" and for "Chaldea," 237.

    Chaldea From the Earliest Times to the Rise of Assyria 1879

  • In this enchanted world of dreams called 'Chaldea', which may well have began thousands of years before with the death of Abel, many people had what some call second-sight, or what others refer to as ESP.

    RedState 2010

  • In truth, 'Chaldea', like the mythical Gog and Magog, was probably a veiled reference to a magic, hidden kingdom that existed spiritually in the minds of ancient Middle Eastern men and women within their dreams at night.

    RedState 2010

  • It would be a mistake to believe that Abraham's greatest knowledge originated from 'Chaldea', or Mesopotamia, because their Zodiac was, at first, quite different than the one that continued on through Egypt, Greece and then Rome.

    RedState 2010

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