Category:Priory

Pri"o*ry, n.; pl. Priories. Etym: [cf. Ll. prioria. See prior, n.]

Defn: 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.

Note: 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. Alien Priory, a small religious house dependent on a large monastery in Some other country.

Syn. -- see cloister.