a1250 (?a1200) (Titus) (1963) 24 Iesu crist..seis as o grim hoker & oscarn to ancres [?c1225 Cleo., c1230 Corpus Cambr., a1250 Nero ancre] þat schulde beon his lefmon & seches þah utward Gelinge & froure.
1394 in J. Raine (1836) I. 186 xijd. to the Ankres of Thurgransby, and vjd. to Alison hir mayden.
a1450 (?a1390) J. Mirk (Claud.) (1974) l. 1243 Ȝef ho were ankeras or nonne.
1463–5 (Electronic ed.) Parl. Apr. 1463 §40. m. 31 Alice Ripas, anchoryse, inclused withynne the chapell of Seynt Eleyn.
1549 H. Latimer 4th Serm. sig. Nvii Ladye faieth..is no Anckres, she dwells not alone.
1567 J. Jewel ii. xv. §1. 293 The Reuelation of Dame Eua the Ancharesse [1611 Anchorisse].
1600 E. Fairfax tr. T. Tasso xi. ix. 197 Ancresses that dwell, Mewed vp in walles.
a1640 J. Fletcher et al. Faire Maide of Inne iii. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher (1647) sig. Fffffff/1 I will..wall up my girle (wife) like an Anchoresse.
1661 R. Flecknoe i. viii. 22 She sate like solitary Turtle in absence of its mate: no Anchoress more inclos'd, no Recluse more retir'd!
1719 J. Harris i. ii. 199/1 In King Henry the VIIIth's Reign, an Anchoress had a Cell here at the East End of this Church.
1759 26 The bones, thought to be those of the anchoress Rosia, were but lately discovered in a cell at Royston.
c1800 W. Wordsworth xxi There a saintly anchoress she dwelt.
1865 F. B. Palliser xxii. 269 This Lady Ancress, or Anchoress, being some worn-out old nun.
1918 Sept. 108 Even a few villages are known to have had an anchoret or ancress living within the narrow confines of a room or two.
1941 A. C. Bouquet ix. 189 In the Middle Ages almost every city church... had attached to it its anchorite or anchoress.
2011 7 Jan. 14/1 A local anchoress must have been an attractive alternative if the priest proved unhelpful.