cloister
noun
- open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries
verb
- to confine in a monastery or convent
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈklɔɪstə/ / /ˈklɔɪstɚ/ / /ˈkloɪstə/
noun
Etymology: Recorded since about 1300 as Middle English cloistre, borrowed from Old French cloistre, clostre, or via Old English clauster, both from Medieval Latin claustrum (“portion of monastery closed off to laity”), from Latin claustrum (“place shut in, bar, bolt, enclosure”), a derivation of the past participle of claudere (“to close”). Doublet of claustrum.
- A covered walk with an open colonnade on one side, running along the walls of buildings that surround a quadrangle; especially:
- A covered walk with an open colonnade on one side, running along the walls of buildings that surround a quadrangle; especially:
- A place, especially a monastery or convent, devoted to religious seclusion.
- The monastic life.
verb
Etymology: Recorded since about 1300 as Middle English cloistre, borrowed from Old French cloistre, clostre, or via Old English clauster, both from Medieval Latin claustrum (“portion of monastery closed off to laity”), from Latin claustrum (“place shut in, bar, bolt, enclosure”), a derivation of the past participle of claudere (“to close”). Doublet of claustrum.
- To become a Roman Catholic religious.
- To confine in a cloister, voluntarily or not.
- To deliberately withdraw from worldly things.
- To provide with a cloister or cloisters.
“The architect cloistered the college just like the monastery which founded it.”
- To protect or isolate.
“Unique condo cloistered on top of hill.”