a covered passage with arches or columns on the inner side, along the wall of a courtyard in a church, monastery, college, etc on the side of an open court, usu having one side walled and the other an open arcade or colonnade
(the cloister) the monastic life
a monastery or convent
the monastic life
cloistral adj
[Middle English cloistre via Old French and medieval Latin from Latin claustrum bar, bolt, from claudere to close]