▪ I. † ˈclauster, -re, n. Obs.
Also 4 claustur, 6 clowster.
[OE. clauster, a. L. claustr-um ‘lock, bar, bolt’, later ‘a shut up place, a cell or cloister’, f. claud-, claus- to shut + -trum instrumental suffix. So Icel. klaustr. In ME. the word may have been formed anew from Latin. OE. had another form cl{uacu}stor, corresp. to OS. cl{uacu}star, MDu. clûster, Du. kluister; app. repr. a pop. L. variant clūstrum. Later variants were closter and cloister. (Clowster may belong to either clauster or closter.)]
A cloister, cell, or monastery.
| c 1000 ælfric Greg. Colloq. (end) Gaþ ut..to claustre. ― ælfric's Gl. Wr-W. 186/7 Claustrum fæsten uel clauster. 1340 Ayenb. 267 Uor claustres and uor strayte cellen. c 1400 Prymer in Maskell Mon. Rit. II. 5 The claustur of marie berith him. 1549 Chron. Grey Friars (1852) 58 The x. day of Aprill [1549] was pullyd downe the clowster in Powlles that was callyd the Pardon churcheyerd. Ibid. 64 Clowster. 1726 Ayliffe Parerg. 6 Within the Claustres of the said Monastery. |
Hence ˈclausterman, in Ormin as clawwstremann; cf. ON. klaustra-mann a monk.
| c 1200 Ormin 6352 For þi birrþ wel clawwstremann Onnfanngenn mikell mede. |
▪ II. † ˈclauster, v. Obs. rare.
[ad. med.L. claustrāre, f. claustrum: see prec.]
To cloister.
| 1635 E. Pagitt Christianog. Relig. Brit. 35 They lived not claustered in Monasteries. |