Webster's English Dictionary

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cloister

1. clois.ter \'klo.i-st*r\ n [ME cloistre, fr. OF, fr. ML claustrum, fr. L, 
   bar, bolt, fr. cl]audere to close 1a: a monastic establishment  1b: 
   monastic life  2: a covered passage on the side of a court usu. having one 
   side walled and  the other an open arcade or colonnadeBEY, PRIORY mean a 
   house of persons living under religious vows. CLOISTER and CONVENT are both 
   general terms, though cloister connotes seclusion from the world and 
   CONVENT stresses community of living; a MONASTERY is specifically a 
   cloister for monks; a NUNNERY is a cloister for nuns and is now more 
   commonly called a CONVENT; an ABBEY is a house for monks or for nuns 
   governed by an abbot or by an abbess; a PRIORY is governed by a prior or 
   prioress and may be subordinate to an abbey SYN syn CLOISTER, CONVENT, 
   MONASTERY, NUNNERY, AB 
2. cloister \'klo.i-st(*-)rin\ vt or clois.ter.ing 1: to seclude from the 
   world in or as if in a cloister  2: to surround with a cloister