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cloister Definition

clois·ter (klo̵istər)

noun

  1. a place of religious seclusion: monastery or convent
  2. monastic life
  3. any place where one may lead a secluded life
  4. an arched way or covered walk along the inside wall or walls of a monastery, convent, church, or college building, with a columned opening along one side leading to a courtyard or garden

Etymology: ME < OFr cloistre & OE clauster, both < ML(Ec) claustrum, portion of monastery closed off to the laity < L, a bolt, place shut in < pp. of claudere, to close

transitive verb

  1. to seclude or confine in or as in a cloister
  2. to furnish or surround with a cloister

cloister Related Forms
clois·tered adjective clois·tral (-trəl) adjective
cloister Synonyms

cloister

n.

  1. A place of religious seclusion

    monastery, convent, abbey, priory, nunnery, friary, Charterhouse, hermitage, chapter house, house, order, retreat, cell(s), cenoby, retreat from the world, cloistered walls, religious community, lamasery, ashram; see also sanctuary 2.

  2. A covered walk

    ambulatory, arcade, gallery; see colonnade, court 1.

cloister, in this comparison, is the general term for a place of religious seclusion, for either men or women, and emphasizes in connotation retirement from the world; convent, once a general term synonymous with cloister, is now usually restricted to such a place for women (nuns), formerly called a nunnery; monastery usually refers to a cloister for men (monks); an abbey is a cloister ruled by an abbot or abbess; a priory is a cloister ruled by a prior or prioress and is sometimes a subordinate branch of an abbey

cloister Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • monastery: My entire favorite bit of the entire opera is Act II Scene 1, in the cloisters of the monastery of San Giusto.
  • cathedral: These pictures show the three sundials in the cloister of the cathedral, which is accessible through the museum.
  • church: Was a restored copy of a cloister of the church of Santa Maria at Cologne.

Converse of object

  • leave: They leave the cloister and wander off in search of an abundance of food.
  • have: Melrose Abbey is unusual tho not unique in having the cloister to the north of the church.
  • surround: To its south was the usual cloister surrounded by ranges of domestic buildings.

Adjective modifier

  • Moorish: In Andalucia, Moorish cloisters and monastic calm, a house with its own farm, out-of this-world views.
  • monastic: Early in 2001 a northern cloister was opened where once the monastic cloister stood.
  • medieval: There is also a museum housed in the medieval cloisters, which is worth a look around.
  • original: Running along the north side of the abbey church, where the original cloister would have been, a garden has been laid out.
  • old: Breakfast is in the cool colonnades of the old cloister; the restaurant is in the dimly lit wine cellars.
  • great: John Paslew, last abbot of Whalley, was also responsible for the commissioning of a separate mansion, east of the great cloister.

Modifies a noun

  • garth: All were linked by a continuous alley around a cloister garth.
  • alley: Books might also have been kept in the Sacristy or in the adjacent cloister alley.
  • arcade: A reconstructed section of the Romanesque cloister arcade now stands beside the lavabo.
  • walk: The walls of the cloister walks are all covered with blank arcading, echoing the openings with their bar tracery.
  • garden: See magnificent award winning gardens, 19th century buildings with nuns chapel and cloister garden.
  • wall: Just names on the cloister wall, Young men from long ago.

Noun used with modifier

  • cathedral: The gallows appear to have been set up in some sort of cathedral cloister.
  • century: If you are visiting it is worth finding time roam aroundthe 16th century cloister and Italian renaissance garden.
cloister Quotes

   Claustrum sine armario quasi castrum sine armamentario. Ipsum armarium nostrum est armamenturium. A cloister without a library is like a castle without an armoury. For the library is our armoury.

—Geoffrey de Breteuil   fl.12c

Inveni fateor in rege monachum, claustrum in curia, in palatio monasterii disciplinam. I confess that I found in the king a monk, in the court a cloister, and in the palace the discipline of a monastery.

—St Aelred of Riveaulx   d.1167

But let my due feet never fail To walk the studious cloister's pale, And love the high embowe'  d roof, With antic pillars massy proof, And storied windows richly dight Casting a dim religious light.

—Milton,John

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