hermitage Hear it!

hermitage Definition

her·mit·age (hʉrmə tij)

noun

  1. the place where a hermit lives
  2. a place where a person can live away from other people; secluded retreat

Etymology: ME < OFr: see -age

Hermitage¹ Definition

Her·mi·tage (er′mi täz̸h)

noun

a full-bodied red or white wine from vineyards on the Rhone near Valence, France

Etymology: after Tain-l' Ermitage, town in SE France

Hermitage² Definition

Her·mi·tage (er′mi täz̸h, hʉrmə tij)

noun

art museum in St. Petersburg, Russia: originally a palace

hermitage Synonyms

hermitage

n.

  1. Isolation

    seclusion, withdrawal, self-exile; see isolation, privacy.

  2. A retreat

    shelter, asylum, monastery; see retreat 2.

hermitage Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • build: There they built a hermitage on the bank of the Godavari river.
  • establish: Later, St Maelrubha established hermitage there, eventually replaced by chapel.
  • visit: A woman wearing a veil visits the hermitage with a baby.
  • pass: You pass several hermitages and chapels on our Three Kingdoms route, too.
  • call: It literally means a desert and by extension it is applied to what we would call a hermitage.
  • have: So Joseph had a small hermitage built further up the road from the house and he tried to employ a professional hermit.

Adjective modifier

  • small: So Joseph had a small hermitage built further up the road from the house and he tried to employ a professional hermit.
  • little: He built his own little hermitage in the back woods and created himself a monk's habit from second-hand army blankets.
  • medieval: To the west of Windsor the land rises to the hill which takes its name from the medieval hermitage of St. Leonard.
  • former: Born in Swabia in Germany, he became a hermit on Mt Etzel in Switzerland, St Meinrad's former hermitage.

Preposition: on

  • island: It was here around 1,400 years ago that St. Finbarr established a hermitage on a tiny island in the lake.

Noun used with modifier

  • rock-cut: So it would seem that our rock-cut hermitages could have more about them than would appear at first sight.
  • century: The town developed around the site of a 13th century hermitage, and is now ranked as the second site in France.
hermitage Quotes

And may at last my weary age Find out the peaceful hermitage, The hairy gown and mossy cell, Where I may sit and rightly spell Of every star that heaven doth shew, And every herb that sips the dew, Till old experience to attain To something like prophetic strain.

—Milton,John

Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for a hermitage; If I have freedom in my love, And in my soul am free; Angels along that soar above, Enjoy such liberty.

—Lovelace, Richard