Cloister
WordNet
noun
(1) A courtyard with covered walks (as in religious institutions)
(2) Residence that is a place of religious seclusion (such as a monastery)
verb
(3) Seclude from the world in or as if in a cloister
"She cloistered herself in the office"
(4) Surround with a cloister, as of a garden
WiktionaryText
Etymology
recorded since c.1300, directly from cloistre, clostre or via clauster, both from Medieval Latin claustrum "portion of monastery closed off to laity," from claustrum, "place shut in, bar, bolt, enclosure", a noun use of the past participle (neutral inflection) of claudere ‘to close’.
Noun
- A covered walk with an open colonnade on one side, running along the walls of buildings that face a quadrangle; especially:
- such arcade in a monastery
- such arcade fitted with representations of the stages of Christ's Passion
- A place, especially a monastery or convent, devoted to religious seclusion.
- The monastic life