Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Cloister
Clois′ter
,Noun.
1.
An inclosed place.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
2.
A covered passage or ambulatory on one side of a court;
(pl.
) the series of such passages on the different sides of any court, esp. that of a monastery or a college.
But let my due feet never fail
To walk the studious
To walk the studious
cloister’s
pale. Milton.
3.
A monastic establishment; a place for retirement from the world for religious duties.
Fitter for a
cloister
than a crown. Daniel.
Cloister and convent are generic terms, and denote a place of seclusion from the world for persons who devote their lives to religious purposes. They differ is that the distinctive idea of cloister is that of seclusion from the world, that of convent, community of living. Both terms denote houses for recluses of either sex. A cloister or convent for monks is called a monastery; for nuns, a nunnery. An abbey is a convent or monastic institution governed by an abbot or an abbess; a priory is one governed by a prior or a prioress, and is usually affiliated to an abbey.
Clois′ter
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Cloistered
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Cloistering
.] To confine in, or as in, a cloister; to seclude from the world; to immure.
None among them are thought worthy to be styled religious persons but those that
cloister
themselves up in a monastery. Sharp.
Webster 1828 Edition
Cloister
CLOISTER
, n.1.
Literally, a close; a close, or inclosed place. A monastery or nunnery; a house inhabited by monks or nuns. In a more limited sense, the principal part of a regular monastery, consisting of a square, erected between the church, the chapter-house and the refectory, and over which is the dormitory. The proper use of the cloister is for the monks to meet in for conversation. The cloister is square, and has its name from being inclosed on its four sides with buildings. Hence in architecture, a building is said to be in the form of a cloister, when there are buildings on each of the four sides of the court.2.
A peristyle; a piazza.CLOISTER
,Verb.
T.
1.
To confine in a cloister or monastery.2.
To shut up; to confine closely within walls; to immure; to shut up in retirement from the world.Definition 2024
cloister
cloister
English
Alternative forms
- cloistre (obsolete)
Noun
cloister (plural cloisters)
- A covered walk with an open colonnade on one side, running along the walls of buildings that face a quadrangle; especially:
- such arcade in a monastery;
- such arcade fitted with representations of the stages of Christ's Passion.
- A place, especially a monastery or convent, devoted to religious seclusion.
- (figuratively) The monastic life.
Derived terms
Translations
covered walk with an open colonnade
|
place devoted to religious seclusion
monastic life
Verb
cloister (third-person singular simple present cloisters, present participle cloistering, simple past and past participle cloistered)
- (intransitive) To become a Roman Catholic religious.
- (transitive) To confine in a cloister, voluntarily or not.
- (intransitive) To deliberately withdraw from worldly things.
- (transitive) To provide with (a) cloister(s).
- The architect cloistered the college just like the monastery which founded it
- (transitive) To protect or isolate.
Synonyms
- (become a Catholic religious) enter religion