Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A covered walk with an open colonnade on one side, running along the walls of buildings that face a quadrangle.
- noun A place, especially a monastery or convent, devoted to religious seclusion.
- noun Life in a monastery or convent.
- noun A secluded, quiet place.
- transitive verb To shut away from the world in or as if in a cloister; seclude.
- transitive verb To furnish (a building) with a cloister.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To confine in a cloister or convent.
- To shut up; confine closely within walls; immure; shut up in retirement from the world.
- noun An inclosure.
- noun An arched way or a covered walk running round the walls of certain portions of monastic and collegiate buildings.
- noun Hence A place of religious retirement; a monastery; a convent; a nunnery; a religious house.
- noun Any arcade or colonnade round an open court.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete An inclosed place.
- noun A covered passage or ambulatory on one side of a court
- noun A monastic establishment; a place for retirement from the world for religious duties.
- noun (Arch.) the garden or open part of a court inclosed by the cloisters.
- transitive verb To confine in, or as in, a cloister; to seclude from the world; to immure.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
covered walk with anopen colonnade on one side, running along the walls ofbuildings that face aquadrangle ; especially: - noun A
place , especially amonastery orconvent ,devoted toreligious seclusion . - noun figuratively The
monastic life - verb intransitive To become a Roman Catholic
religious . - verb transitive To
confine in a cloister, voluntarily or not. - verb intransitive To deliberately
withdraw fromworldly things. - verb transitive To
provide with (a) cloister(s). - verb transitive To
protect orisolate .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb surround with a cloister
- noun residence that is a place of religious seclusion (such as a monastery)
- verb seclude from the world in or as if in a cloister
- noun a courtyard with covered walks (as in religious institutions)
- verb surround with a cloister, as of a garden
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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IV. iii.280 (107,1) [He will steal, sir, an egg out of a cloister] I know not that _cloister_, though it may etymologically signify _any_
Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies Samuel Johnson 1746
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Her design style was said to be greatly influenced by the days in cloister:
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When he thought of the great Mongibello that he never would see, and of Donna Elisa, who would never come again, and of the school, and of the shut-in cloister garden, and of a whole restricted life!
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Besides providing a means of communication between the various parts of the monastery, they were both the dwelling-place and the workshop of the monks, and thus the word cloister became a synonym for the monastic life.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913
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Nuova, the hospital of Florence; and then, being dead, he was buried in the Ossa (for so they call a cloister, or rather cemetery, of the hospital), like the rest of the poor, in the year 1340.
Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects Vol. 01 (of 10), Cimabue to Agnolo Gaddi Giorgio Vasari 1542
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Retired in a cloister from the vices and passions of the world, he presents not a confession, but an apology, of the life of an ambitious statesman.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206
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Provided by Charlotte Moss The fountain at the center of the cloister is a place for meditation, surrounded by four domed seats made of coppiced chestnut wood above.
Paradise Regained 2010
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Thérèse of Lisieux who rarely talked to people outside of the cloister was the person of "the missionary spirit" and became the patron of the Mission.
You report: the advance of the TLM in the Diocese of San Bernardino, California 2009
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The transition from a drover to a Carmelite is not in the least violent; the one turns into the other without much effort; the fund of ignorance common to the village and the cloister is a preparation ready at hand, and places the boor at once on the same footing as the monk: a little more amplitude in the smock, and it becomes a frock.
Les Miserables 2008
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On the east side of the cloister was the north transept of the church which led to a sacristy, a room set aside for the officiating priest.
bilby commented on the word cloister
О, е�?ли б был �?
тихий,
как гром,-
ныл бы,
дрожью объ�?л бы земли одр�?хлевший �?кит.
Я е�?ли в�?ей его мощью
выреву голо�? огромный,-
кометы залом�?т гор�?щие руки,
бро�?а�?�?ь вниз �? то�?ки.
If only I were
quiet
as thunder-
I would whimper
and, trembling, embrace earth's decrepit cloister.
If I outroar in an enormous voice
with all the power of thunder-
comets will wring their burning hands,
and fling themselves down in despair.
- V. Mayakovsky, 'Себе любимому по�?вещает �?ти �?троки автор
To His Beloved Self, the Author Dedicates these Lines'.
October 15, 2008