Adjacent Words

Priory definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PRI'ORY, n. A convent of which a prior is the superior; in dignity below an abbey.
1. Priories are the churches given to priors in titulum, or by way of title.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: religious residence in a monastery governed by a prior or a convent governed by a prioress

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -ries) Etymology: Middle English priorie, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin prioria, from prior Date: 13th century a religious house under a prior or prioress

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) a monastery governed by a prior or a nunnery governed by a prioress. Etymology: ME f. AF priorie, med.L prioria (as PRIOR)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Priory Pri"o*ry, n.; pl. Priories. [Cf. LL. prioria. See Prior, n.] A religious house presided over by a prior or prioress; -- sometimes an offshoot of, an subordinate to, an abbey, and called also cell, and obedience. See Cell, 2. Note: Of such houses there were two sorts: one where the prior was chosen by the inmates, and governed as independently as an abbot in an abbey; the other where the priory was subordinate to an abbey, and the prior was placed or displaced at the will of the abbot. Alien priory, a small religious house dependent on a large monastery in some other country. Syn: See Cloister.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(priories) A priory is a place where a small group of monks live and work together. N-COUNT: oft in names after n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Convent, cloister, monastery, nunnery.