ABBEY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Abbey

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/ˈæbi/ Listen

noun

Abbey n. (pl. abbeys)

A monastery or society of persons of either sex, secluded from the world and devoted to religion and celibacy; also, the monastic building or buildings. Note: The men are called monks, and governed by an abbot; the women are called nuns, and governed by an abbess.

The church of a monastery. Note: In London, the Abbey means Westminster Abbey, and in Scotland, the precincts of the Abbey of Holyrood. The name is also retained for a private residence on the site of an abbey; as, Newstead Abbey, the residence of Lord Byron.

Synonyms: Monastery; convent; nunnery; priory; cloister. See Cloister.

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Etymology of 'Abbey'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Abbey" Quotes from Famous Books

... Waldo Emerson "When in the Woods I Wander All Alone" Edward Hovell-Thurlow Aspects of the Pines Paul Hamilton Hayne Out in the Fields Unknown Under the Leaves Albert Laighton "On Wenlock Edge" Alfred Edward Housman "What Do We Plant" Henry Abbey The Tree Jones Very The Brave Old Oak Henry Fothergill Chorley "The Girt Woak Tree that's in the Dell" William Barnes To the Willow-tree Robert Herrick Enchantment Madison Cawein Trees Joyce Kilmer ...

— The Home Book of Verse, Vol. 3 (of 4) • Various

... see where the emphasis comes in. She was one that a man could be as sure of as of Westminster Abbey. The heart of her husband rests upon her—isn't that what the fellow in the Bible says, or words to that effect? Nell was always a kind of a Bible to me. And you may say that in that case to think of her amusing herself! But you will allow she ...

— The Marriage of Elinor • Margaret Oliphant

... behest. There was "Jemmy Twitcher," as Lord Sandwich was called. This man was so utterly bad, that in later life he never cared to conceal his infamies, because he knew that his character could not possibly be worse blackened. Sandwich belonged to the unspeakable Medmenham Abbey set. The lovely ruin had been bought and renovated by a gang of rakes, who converted it into an abode of drunkenness and grossness; they defaced the sacred trees and the grey walls with inscriptions which the indignation of a purer age has caused to be removed; they carried on nightly revels ...

— Side Lights • James Runciman

... a sheet of notepaper, signed A. D., is in the possession of Mrs. James Stuart of Carrow Abbey, Norwich, who has kindly lent it ...

— George Borrow and His Circle - Wherein May Be Found Many Hitherto Unpublished Letters Of - Borrow And His Friends • Clement King Shorter

... along. They passed a little watering-place under the steep wooded hills—a furnace of sun on this hot June day, in winter a soft and sheltered refuge from the north. Further on rose the ruins of a great Cistercian abbey, great ribs and arches of red sandstone, that still, in ruin, made the soul and beauty of a quiet valley; then a few busy towns with mills and factories, the fringe of that industrial district which lies on the southern and western border of the Lake Country; more wide valleys sweeping ...

— Helbeck of Bannisdale, Vol. I. • Mrs. Humphry Ward

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