cloister
n. countablen. a covered walkway or garden in a monastery or college. It is usually a quiet, peaceful place for walking and thinking.
n. a covered walkway or courtyard in a monastery, convent, or college. Often used to describe the architectural complex surrounding a central garden or chapel.
The monks spent their afternoons walking in the cloister.
The university's oldest buildings are arranged around a central cloister where students can study in silence.
The stone cloister, with its intricate arches and ivy-covered walls, provides a stark contrast to the modern glass towers of the medical school.
Recorded since about 1300 as Middle English cloistre, borrowed from Old French cloistre, clostre, or via Old English clauster, both from Medieval Latin claustrum (“portion of monastery closed off to laity”), from Latin claustrum (“place shut in, bar, bolt, enclosure”), a derivation of the past participle of claudere (“to close”). Doublet of claustrum.