GDict

abbey

'æbi4 senses · 101 ms
Level C1
local copy0 msLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0Wiktionary contributors
noun/ˈæbi//ˈabɪj//ˈabi/
  1. 1

    The office or dominion of an abbot or abbess.

  2. 2

    A monastery or society of people, secluded from the world and devoted to religion and celibacy, which is headed by an abbot or abbess; also, the monastic building or buildings.

    • Near-synonym: convent
    • From 1199 to 1203 William Punchard was the abbot of the abbey of Rievaulx, which was part of the Cistercian order of monks.
  3. 3

    The church of a monastery.

    • No, we can't have alphabetical seating in the abbey. You'd have Iraq and Iran next to each other (laugh track)... Plus Israel and Jordan all sitting in the same pew (laugh track)! We'd be in danger of starting World War III (laugh track)!
  4. 4

    A residence that was previously an abbatial building.BritishEnglish

  5. 5

    The abele or white poplar (Populus alba).dialectal

    • Ab'bey. The great white poplar: one of the varieties of the Populus alba.
    • Abbey-lug, a branch of the abele tree.

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