white monk
[white a. 6 a: cf. white friar.]
A Cistercian monk: so called from the colour of the habit of undyed wool.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VIII. 31 He made Baldewyn þe whiȝte monk archbisshop of Caunterbury. c 1400 Rom. Rose 6695 These chanouns regulers Or white monkes or these blake. 1517 R. Torkington Pilgr. (1884) 7 Seynt Elyn..lith in a ffayer place of religion of whith monks. c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon §136. (1810) 152 Duke Alfred erected a fair abbey for white monks of the order of Cistercians. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 566. |