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clois·ter (kloistər)
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n.
1.
a. A quadrangle enclosed by an open colonnade and a covered walk.
b. The covered walk enclosing such a quadrangle.
2.
a. A place, especially a monastery or convent, devoted to religious seclusion.
b. Life in a monastery or convent.
3. A secluded, quiet place.
tr.v. clois·tered, clois·ter·ing, clois·ters
1. To shut away from the world in or as if in a cloister; seclude.
2. To furnish (a building) with a cloister.
[Middle English cloistre, from Old French, alteration (influenced by cloison, partition) of clostre, from Latin claustrum, enclosed place, from claudere, to close.]
(click for a larger image)
cloister
Royal Cloister at the Monastery of Santa Maria da Vitória, also known as the Batalha Monastery Batalha, Portugal
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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