Etymology

Noun

1. One who lives in isolation or seclusion, especially for religious reasons.
   • 1950, Will Durant, The Age of Faith, Simon and Schuster, page 792.

     About 1150 some Palestinian anchorites adopted the eremitical rule of St. Basil, and spread throughout Palestine; when the Moslems captured the Holy Land these "Carmelites" migrated to Cyprus, Sicily, France, and England.