Definitions

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

  • noun A community, especially of nuns, bound by vows to a religious life under a superior.
  • noun The building or buildings occupied by such a community.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To meet; concur.
  • To serve; agree; be convenient or suitable.
  • . To call together; convoke; convene.
  • To call before a judge or tribunal.
  • noun A meeting or an assembly.
  • noun An association or a community of persons devoted to religious life and meditation; a society of monks or nuns. The term is popularly limited to such associations of women.
  • noun A house occupied by such a community; an abbey; a monastery or nunnery.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A coming together; a meeting.
  • noun An association or community of recluses devoted to a religious life; a body of monks or nuns.
  • noun A house occupied by a community of religious recluses; a monastery or nunnery.
  • transitive verb obsolete To call before a judge or judicature; to summon; to convene.
  • intransitive verb obs. To meet together; to concur.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To be convenient; to serve.

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

  • noun A religious community whose members (especially nuns) live under strict observation of religious rules and self-imposed vows.
  • noun The buildings and pertaining surroundings in which such a community lives.
  • noun A gathering of people lasting several days which come from different regions of a country or even the world for the purpose of discussing or working on topics previously selected.
  • verb obsolete To call before a judge or judicature; to summon; to convene.

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

  • noun a community of people in a religious order (especially nuns) living together
  • noun a religious residence especially for nuns

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English covent, from Old French, from Medieval Latin conventus, from Latin, assembly, from past participle of convenīre, to assemble; see convene.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin conventus, perfect participle of the verb convenio, see con-, venio.

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