nunnery — (n.) late 13c., nunhood, from NUN (Cf. nun) + ERY (Cf. ery). Meaning convent of nuns is from c.1300. Meaning house of ill fame is attested by 1590s … Etymology dictionary
nunnery — *cloister, monastery, convent, abbey, priory … New Dictionary of Synonyms
nunnery — [n] convent abbey, cloister, monastery, priory, religious community, retreat; concepts 368,516 … New thesaurus
nunnery — ► NOUN (pl. nunneries) ▪ a religious house of nuns … English terms dictionary
nunnery — [nun′ər ē] n. pl. nunneries [ME nonnerie: see NUN1 & ERY] former term for CONVENT SYN. CLOISTER … English World dictionary
Nunnery — Recorded as Nunney, Nunnery and Nunnerley, this is an English medieval surname. It is locational for someone who lived at a place called Nunney in Somerset or Nunnerley in Sussex and Cumberland, the latter two being lost or at least diminished… … Surnames reference
nunnery — UK [ˈnʌnərɪ] / US noun [countable] Word forms nunnery : singular nunnery plural nunneries mainly literary a convent … English dictionary
nunnery — noun a place of residence for nuns Get thee to a nunnery, why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? … Wiktionary
nunnery — [[t]nʌ̱nəri[/t]] nunneries N COUNT A nunnery is a group of buildings in which a community of nuns live together. [OLD FASHIONED] Syn: convent … English dictionary
nunnery — obsolete a brothel The religious orders provided many allusive words for sexual subjects before and for some decades after the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s, partly out of envy at the wealth of the Church and partly because … How not to say what you mean: A dictionary of euphemisms