- The definition of a cloister is a secluded monastery or any place of seclusion.
A secluded place where monks or nuns live is an example of a cloister.
- To cloister is to seclude or shut in.
When you seclude your children inside your home and discourage them from leaving, this is an example of cloister.
The cloister of a French monastery.
- a place of religious seclusion: monastery or convent
- monastic life
- any place where one may lead a secluded life
- 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
Origin of cloisterMiddle English ; from Old French cloistre and amp; Old English clauster, both ; from Ecclesiastical Medieval Latin claustrum, portion of monastery closed off to the laity ; from Classical Latin a bolt, place shut in ; from past participle of claudere, to close
- to seclude or confine in or as in a cloister
- to furnish or surround with a cloister
- A covered walk with an open colonnade on one side, running along the walls of buildings that face a quadrangle.
- a. A place, especially a monastery or convent, devoted to religious seclusion.b. Life in a monastery or convent.
- A secluded, quiet place.
transitive verbclois·tered, clois·ter·ing, clois·ters
- To shut away from the world in or as if in a cloister; seclude.
- To furnish (a building) with a cloister.
Origin of cloisterMiddle English cloistre, from Old French, alteration (influenced by cloison, partition) of clostre, from Latin claustrum, enclosed place, from claudere, to close.
Royal Cloister at the Monastery of Santa Maria da Vitória, also known as the Batalha Monastery Batalha, Portugal
- A covered walk with an open colonnade on one side, running along the walls of buildings that face a quadrangle; especially:
- such arcade in a monastery
- such arcade fitted with representations of the stages of Christ's Passion
- A place, especially a monastery or convent, devoted to religious seclusion.
- (figuratively) The monastic life
(third-person singular simple present cloisters, present participle cloistering, simple past and past participle cloistered)
Recorded since c.1300, directly from Old French cloistre, clostre or via Old English clauster, both from Medieval Latin claustrum "portion of monastery closed off to laity," from Latin claustrum, "place shut in, bar, bolt, enclosure", a noun use of the past participle (neutral inflection) of claudere ‘to close’.