▪ I. cloister, n.
(ˈklɔɪstə(r))
Forms: 4 cloystor, cloistre, 4–5 cloystre, 4–8 -ter, 5 -tere, 5–6 -ture, 6–7 cloisture, 4– cloister.
[ME. cloistre, a. OF. cloistre, earlier clostre:—L. claustr-um, clōstr-um, ‘a bar, bolt, lock’, later ‘a shut up place, a cloister’, f. claud-, claus- to shut + -trum instrumental suffix. Before the adoption of the French form, OE. had already clauster and cl{uacu}stor from Latin, and ME. had also closter, and clowster.]
1. An enclosed place or space, enclosure; close; compass. Also fig. Obs. or arch. (In later use app. taken as fig. from sense 2 or 3.)
| c 1300 Beket 2089 Into the cloistre of Canterbure with grete noyse hi gonne weve. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 968 Vt-wyth to se þat clene cloystor, Þou may, bot in-wyth not a fote. 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) i. xlvi. 79 b/2 He..edefyed a lytyll cloysture of stones. 1600 Holland Livy xxxvi. ix. 924 One part..was strongly fortified with a mure of less circuite and cloisture [circulo] than the other. 1646 J. Hall Poems i. 13 Within the Cloyster of a nut. 1671 Grew Anat. Plants i. i. §39 'Tis now time for the Plume to rouze out of its Cloysters, and germinate. 1831 Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 190 Immured..in cloisters of the mind. |
† b. Applied to the womb.
Obs.| c 1386 Chaucer Sec. Nun's T. 43 With-Inne the Cloistre blisful of thy sydis. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 220 The cloyster of Mary beryth hym. 1539 Bk. Ceremonies in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. App. cix. 285 Christ..came from the..virginal cloister of his mother. |
2. A place of religious seclusion; a monastery or nunnery; a convent.
| 1340 Ayenb. 242 Lottes wyf betokneþ ham..þet habbeþ hear body ine cloystre, an zetteþ hare herten ine þe wordle. 1481 Caxton Reynard xii. (Arb.) 28 A cloyster of b[l]ack nonnes. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. v. (1634) 536 Let a Monke be content with his cloister. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. i. i. 71. 1597 Daniel Civ. Warres v. 50 Fitter for a Cloyster than a Crowne. 1614 T. Adams Devil's Banquet 122 The villanies of the Cloistures. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. i. iii. §9 Those things which the ægyptian Priests had to that time kept secret in their Cloysters. 1756 Nugent Gr. Tour, Germany II. 98 There are several cloysters remaining in this city, which are now secularized. |
b. fig.| 1340 Ayenb. 151 Þes yef þe [of wytte] is priour ine þe cloystre of þe zaule. 1599 Davies Immort. Soul v., Nor in a secret cloister doth he keep These virgin spirits. 1857 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Poets ii. 78 To withdraw..into the cloister of his ideal world. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 30 Freed..from the cloister of pedantry. |
c. the cloister: the seclusion of a cloister; monastic life.
| 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. II. xlvii. 775 The austerity of the cloyster. 1841 D'Israeli Amen. Lit. (1867) 91 In a manner which scents of the cloister. 1888 Bernard World to Cloister ii. 14 Reflection and preparation before they enter the cloister. |
3. A covered walk or arcade connected with a monastery, college, or large church, serving as a way of communication between different parts of the group of buildings, and sometimes as a place of exercise or study; often running round the open court of a quadrangle, with a plain wall on the one side, and a series of windows or an open colonnade on the other. (Often in
pl.)
| c 1400 Mandeville vi. (1839) 70 Under the cloystre of the Chirche. 1579 Fulke Confut. Sanders 615 The cloyster or walking place of Alsoule Colledge in Oxenford. 1632 Milton Penseroso 156 To walk the studious cloister's pale. a 1672 Wood Life (1848) 8 New Coll. schoole, situated between the west part of the chappell, and E. part of the cloyster. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 167 ¶1 To be interred..in the Cloysters near Westminster Abbey. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 292 The court-yard is surrounded with a cloister as it is in monasteries. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 261, I was loitering about the old gray cloisters of Westminster Abbey. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) I. 299 Granta's quiet solitudes, her cloisters and her halls. |
b. A similar walk or arcade in connexion with other buildings.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 684 Till he come thurghe a cloyster to a clene halle. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 15 The pillars and arched Cloysters of that princely pallace. 1680 Morden Geog. Rect. (1685) 197 One long Street, with narrow Porticoes, or Cloysters on both sides. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Stonehenge Wks. (Bohn) II. 127 [Wilton Hall] A quadrangle cloister full of antique and modern statuary. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
cloister-bower,
† cloister-brood,
cloister-chapel,
cloister-court,
† cloister-creeper,
cloister-life,
cloister-man,
cloister-monk,
cloister-quadrangle,
cloister-room;
cloister-garth, the open court enclosed by a cloister;
cloister-wise adv.| 1591 G. Fletcher Russe Commw. (1857) 117 Friers and nunnes..the hypocrisie and uncleannesse of that *cloyster-broode. |
| 1798 W. Sotheby tr. Wieland's Oberon (1826) I. 56 To the *cloister-court in crowds tumultuous came. |
| 1563 J. Man Musculus' Commonpl. 41 a, Monkes, Friers, and other *Cloyster-crepers. |
| 1850 Parker Gloss. Archit. I. 135 The cloisters..are arranged round three or four sides of a quadrangular area, termed the *cloister garth. |
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. 537–8 Manye monkis han be take out of *cloister lyf to be bischopis. |
| 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 1169 False prechers and *Cloister men. |
| c 1325 Metr. Hom. 30 An *cloyster monk. |
| a 1711 Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 71 'Twas *Cloister-wise contriv'd with Arches strong. |
▪ II. cloister, v. (
ˈklɔɪstə(r))
For forms see
prec. [f. the n., or a. F. cloistrer (16th c. in Littré).] 1. trans. To shut
up, enclose, or place in a cloister or monastic house.
| 1591 Florio 2nd Fruites A iiij, This younger sister I thought to haue cloystred vp in some solitarynes. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, v. i. 23 High thee to France, And Cloyster thee in some Religious House. 1692 Sir T. Blount Ess. 41 That little stock of learning..was cloyster'd up in Monasteries and Abbeys. a 1714 Sharp Serm. I. iii. (R.), Those that cloyster up themselves in a monastery. 1751 G. Lavington Enthus. Methodists (1754) II. 144 She..no sooner was cloistered, but, etc. |
2. To shut up in any seclusion or retirement.
| 1581 Mulcaster Positions xli. (1887) 238 Studentes cloystured them selues together. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece iv. xiii. (1715) 310 When at Home they were cloyster'd up. a 1851 D. Moir Poems, Field Pinkie ii, The blackbird, cloistered in the oak. 1854 J. Abbott Napoleon (1855) I. i. 34 [He] cloistered himself in his study. |
† b. To shut up, enclose (things).
Obs. rare.
| 1723 J. Mackay Journ. Scotl., In the Library [of the College, Edinburgh] the books are cloistered with doors of wire. 1769 De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. IV. 98. |
3. fig. To confine, restrain within narrow limits.
| 1627 F. E. Hist. Edw. II (1680) 89 The Cage of his restraint was..too weak to cloyster his Ambition. 1684 Charnock Attrib. God (1834) I. 61 [The soul]..ashamed to be cloistered in it [the body]. 1812 D'Israeli Calam. Auth. (L.), Antony had cloistered an athletic mind. |
4. To furnish or surround (a place) with a cloister; to convert into a cloister or convent.
| 1625 Bacon Ess. Building (Arb.) 552 Cloistered on all Sides, vpon Decent and Beautifull Arches. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. ii. vii, Where, cloister'd round, the garden lay. 1863 J. M. Ludlow Sisterhoods in Gd. Words 498 By Helyot's time several houses had become Cloistered. |
Hence
cloistering vbl. n.| 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. v. xxv. (R.), This cloystring and fat feeding of Religious is not old. 1706 Dupin's Eccl. Hist. 16th C. II. iv. vii. 423 The Cloistring of Nuns. |