priory Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun religious residence in a monastery governed by a prior or a convent governed by a prioress

Cf. LL. prioria. See Prior, n.

plural Priories

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. ✍ 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. Syn. -- See Cloister.