priory

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: pri=or=y

CIDE DICTIONARY

priory, n. [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.  [1913 Webster]
" 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."  [1913 Webster]

Alien priory, a small religious house dependent on a large monastery in some other country.

Syn. -- See Cloister.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

priory, 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)

ROGET THESAURUS

priory

Temple

N temple, place of worship, house of God, house of prayer, temple, cathedral, minster, church, kirk, chapel, meetinghouse, bethel, tabernacle, conventicle, basilica, fane, holy place, chantry, oratory, synagogue, mosque, marabout, pantheon, pagoda, joss house, dogobah, tope, kiosk, kiack, masjid, parsonage, rectory, vicarage, manse, deanery, glebe, Vatican, bishop's palace, Lambeth, altar, shrine, sanctuary, Holy of Holies, sanctum sanctorum, sacristy, sacrarium, communion table, holy table, Lord's table, table of the Lord, pyx, baptistery, font, piscina, stoup, aumbry, sedile, reredos, rood loft, rood screen, chancel, quire, choir, nave, aisle, transept, vestry, crypt, golgotha, calvary, Easter sepulcher, stall, pew, pulpit, ambo, lectern, reading desk, confessional, prothesis, credence, baldachin, baldacchino, apse, belfry, chapter house, presbytery, anxious-bench, anxious-seat, diaconicum, jube, mourner's bench, mourner's seat, cloisters, churchyard, monastery, priory, abbey, friary, convent, nunnery, cloister, claustral, cloistered, monastic, monasterial, conventual, ne vile fano, there's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple.