Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - cloister

 I. noun  Etymology: Middle English cloistre, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin claustrum, from Latin, bar, bolt, from claudere to close — more at close  Date: 13th century  1.  a. a monastic establishment  b. an area within a monastery or convent to which the religious are normally restricted  c. monastic life  d. a place or state of seclusion  2. a covered passage on the side of a court usually having one side walled and the other an open arcade or colonnade  II. transitive verb  (~ed; ~ing)  Date: 1581  1. to seclude from the world in or as if in a ~ a scientist who ~s herself in a laboratory  2. to surround with a ~ ~ed gardens