PRIORY

priory. Priory, n. a convent that is governed by a prior

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Pri″o‐ry (?), n.; pl. Priories (#). [[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. ☞ 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.