motherhouse
English
Etymology
mother + house.
Noun
motherhouse (plural motherhouses)
- The monastery from which the other 'houses' of a religious order or congregation were (directly or indirectly) founded, often eponymous.
- The Cistercian order is called after its motherhouse Cîteaux in Burgundy, where abbot St. Bernard initiated in 1113 the reform of their branch of the Benedictine order, which has its motherhouse at Monte Cassino
- The convent which is the seat (and often the above original foundation) of the superior of an order or congregation, and/or on which lower ranking houses (such as priories under an abbot) depend.
Translations
religious monastery from which the other houses were founded
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convent from which lower ranking houses depend
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
References
- Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
Anagrams
- housemother