The Only Use of
cloister
in
A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires, Know of your youth, examine well your blood, Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice, You can endure the livery of a nun; For aye to be shady cloister mew'd, To live a barren sister all your life, Chanting faint hymns to the cold, fruitless moon.†
Scene 1.1
Definitions:
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(1)
(cloister in the architectural sense) a covered walkway with columns along one or more sides of a courtyard -- often found in monasteries, churches, or old colleges
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(2)
(cloister in the religious sense) a place, such as a monastery or convent, where people live in religious seclusion; or the act of withdrawing into such a place
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(3)
(cloister as in: cloister ourselves away) to keep someone or something away from the outside world -- often for safety, privacy, or focus