Definitions

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

  • noun The habitation of a hermit or group of hermits.
  • noun A monastery or abbey.
  • noun A place where one can live in seclusion; a retreat.
  • noun The condition or way of life of a hermit.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In landscape-gardening, a secluded building, arbor, or other feature.
  • noun The habitation of a hermit or of a company of hermits; a hermit's cell or hut, usually in a desert or solitary place; hence, any secluded habitation.
  • noun [capitalized] A French wine produced from vineyards on the sides of a hill rising from the river Rhône near Valence, in the department of Drôme: so called from a hermitage which anciently existed there. The red Hermitage is the most celebrated and most abundant; very little of the white Hermitage is made, and still less of the straw-colored or paille. Also Ermitage.

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

  • noun The habitation of a hermit; a secluded residence.
  • noun A celebrated French wine, both white and red, of the Department of Drôme.

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

  • noun A house or dwelling where a hermit lives.
  • noun A place of seclusion.
  • noun A period of seclusion.

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

  • noun the abode of a hermit

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old French hermitage, from heremite, hermit; see hermit.]

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Examples

  • "It is because you are living in what you call your hermitage that I have come," rejoined Agnes, with a slight color deepening her cheeks.

    Red Money Fergus Hume 1895

  • It was with difficulty Lord Belmont forced us at night from this charming retirement, which he calls his hermitage, and which is the scene of his most pleasing hours.

    The history of Lady Julia Mandeville 1763

  • And her hermitage is seen to this day in the suburbs of

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • Though I live in a mining town in northern Saskatchewan, in a place my Toronto friend jokingly calls a hermitage, a larger writing community is just a click away.

    Causing a Scene – Brenda Schmidt 2007

  • The Carshalton Water Tower Trust cares for this superb building, which is available for local events and celebrations, and commands an enchanting view of Carshalton House, the grounds, and what is now called The hermitage we called it The Grotto, and were slightly scared of the big statue of St Joseph there.

    Archive 2008-09-01 Joanna Bogle 2008

  • The Carshalton Water Tower Trust cares for this superb building, which is available for local events and celebrations, and commands an enchanting view of Carshalton House, the grounds, and what is now called The hermitage we called it The Grotto, and were slightly scared of the big statue of St Joseph there.

    In an 18th-century folly... Joanna Bogle 2008

  • On the summit of the rock stands a hermitage, which is now in the possession of an Englishman, who was formerly master of a vessel trading to Lisbon; and, having changed his religion and his manners, the latter of which, at least, were none of the best, betook himself to this place, in order to do penance for his sins.

    The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon 2004

  • That which is called hermitage, and grows in this province of Dauphine, is sold on the spot for three livres a bottle.

    Travels through France and Italy 2004

  • Sri Yukteswar called his hermitage organization SAT-SANGA, “fellowship with truth.”

    Autobiography of a Yogi Yogananda, Paramhansa, 1893-1952 1935

  • On the summit of the rock stands a hermitage, which is now in the possession of an Englishman, who was formerly master of a vessel trading to Lisbon; and, having changed his religion and his manners, the latter of which, at least, were none of the best, betook himself to this place, in order to do penance for his sins.

    The Works of Henry Fielding, Volume Six: Miscellanies 1900

Comments

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  • Lately, my office.

    November 14, 2008

  • I hear ya, pal.

    November 14, 2008

  • Reesetee and elgiad, do you work in palatial offices that are filled with many of the world's greatest paintings? I'm jealous!

    November 14, 2008

  • Oh sure, it's great and all, rolig, but sometimes you just get a little tired of all that splendor. ;->

    November 14, 2008

  • Alas, I am stricken with bare walls and no window to the outside world.

    November 14, 2008

  • Wait... I thought we were talking about Andrew Jackson's homestead.

    November 14, 2008

  • No, that has windows.

    November 14, 2008

  • Ohh.

    *wonders if we could take up a collection and send elgiad a window*

    November 14, 2008

  • Ooh! Me too! I lost mine in the move last month. :-(

    November 14, 2008

  • I shouldn't complain. I do have a private office where I can listen to music while I work. On a quiet day it's probably as peaceful as a hermitage.

    November 14, 2008

  • Can you microwave popcorn there?

    *asking hungrily*

    November 14, 2008

  • Nope, only in the break room. I did hear a rumor of someone having a hot water dispenser in their office though. Maybe it's just legend...

    November 15, 2008

  • Hot water? Hmm. I once worked with a guy who had not only his own coffeemaker in his office, but also his own coffee bean grinder. You can imagine how well that sound went over.

    November 15, 2008

  • I used to have a betta fish in a bowl in my office. He died several months ago and my hermitage has not been the same since.

    November 15, 2008

  • My sympathies. :-(

    November 15, 2008

  • Thank you.

    November 15, 2008

  • It's also a town in PA. Hermitage, that is.

    Sorry about the fish.

    November 15, 2008

  • The Curator

    November 17, 2008

  • See Arcadia.

    September 13, 2010

  • I just read "The Curator", in the Word document Sionnach had linked to two years ago. (Thanks, Fox!) It's marvelous, and brought back memories of my own wanderings through the Hermitage some 30 years ago. It is a special place.

    June 10, 2011

  • Glad you enjoyed it, rolig. I got to visit the Hermitage in the summer of 1978 -- it is indeed a special place. At the time, only some fantastically low percentage of the paintings they had were on display (something like 5 to 10%); I wonder if that has changed now, or what their rotation schedule might be.

    June 10, 2011

  • Wow, I was there the previous autumn, when I was doing a semester abroad studying Russian through the CIEE program. The tickets were cheap and there were no lines then, so I went there at least once a week. That is where I learned to see art.

    I am sure things have changed. I couldn't afford to do that now, since their prices are on a par with other major museums and there are long lines. But I think they do have more of their collection on view, and probably on rotation.

    June 10, 2011

  • "Stone walls do not a prison make,

    Nor iron bars a cage

    Minds innocent and quiet take

    That for an hermitage."

    -- from Richard Lovelace's "To Althea, from Prison"

    May 28, 2014