Definition of: cloister

(klois′tər) noun
1. A covered walk, generally following the walls of buildings enclosing a quadrangle, as in a monastery or college.
2. A building devoted to the secluded life; a monastery; convent.
3. Monastic life.
—v.t.
1. To seclude; confine, as in a cloister.
2. To provide with cloisters. [OF cloistre <L claustrum enclosed place]
—clois′ter·er noun
—clois′tral adjective Synonyms (noun): abbey, convent, friary, hermitage, monastery, nunnery, priory. Cloister, abbey, convent, and priory are for either sex; a friary is always for men, a nunnery for women, a monastery commonly for men. A priory (governed by a prior or prioress) is inferior to an abbey (governed by an abbot or abbess). The word monastery lays stress upon the loneliness; convent emphasizes the association of its inmates. A hermitage was originally for a single recluse, but the word came to be applied to collections of hermits' cells.