A cloister (from Latin claustrum 'enclosure') is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth.

A cloister is usually the area in a monastery around which the principal buildings are ranged, affording a means of communication between the buildings. In developed medieval practice, cloisters usually …

More than three centuries later, English speakers began using the verb cloister to mean “to seclude in or as if in a cloister.” Today, the noun can also refer to the monastic life or to a covered and usually …

CLOISTER definition: 1. a covered stone passage around the four sides of a courtyard (= a square or rectangular space…. Learn more.

Definition of cloister noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

Cloister is a term used in architectural language to describe an open colonnade that surrounds a central courtyard. It is usually found in monasteries, churches, cathedrals and other religious …

1. To shut away from the world in or as if in a cloister; seclude. 2. To furnish (a building) with a cloister.

A cloister is a covered area round a square in a monastery or a cathedral. The thirteenth-century cloisters are amongst the most beautiful in central Italy. Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s …

A cloister is an enclosed garden, usually surrounded by covered walkways. Because such spaces are often featured in buildings that house religious orders, cloister can be used to mean "monastery" or …

Dec 14, 2025 · cloister (third-person singular simple present cloisters, present participle cloistering, simple past and past participle cloistered) (intransitive) To become a Roman Catholic religious.