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