anchoress

American  

[ang-ker-is] / ˈæŋ kər ɪs /

noun

1. a woman who is an anchorite.

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Gender

What's the difference between anchoress and anchor? See -ess.

Etymology

Origin of anchoress

First recorded in 1350–1400; late Middle English anchoryse, Middle English ankres, equivalent to ancre anchorite + -es -ess

Example Sentences

Julian lived as an anchoress, a type of religious hermit, and was likely bricked up inside a small stone cell during her 40-odd years of monastic life.

From New York Times • Jan. 21, 2011

For a case of doubt in an anchoress, which, however ended well, see ib.

From Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535 by Power, Eileen

There was an anchorite in one corner of Faversham churchyard, and an anchoress in another, and in their cells they sat and sulked their lives away, and never did any work.

From The Dover Road Annals of an Ancient Turnpike by Harper, Charles G.

Show me where I can go to be an anchoress, since they will not have me in a convent or anywhere,” and bitterly she wept.

From Grisly Grisell by Yonge, Charlotte Mary

Is the case of this anchoress a unique one?

From A Literary History of the English People From the Origins to the Renaissance by Jusserand, Jean Jules