abbeys

Noun

abbey (plural abbeys)

1. The office or dominion of an abbot or abbess.
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

   Synonyms:

   convent

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)!1987 December 17, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “A Diplomatic Incident”, in Yes, Prime Minister, season 2, episode 3, spoken by Bernard Woolley (Derek Fowlds)
4. (British, English) A residence that was previously an abbatial building.
5. (dialectal, Somerset) The abele or white poplar (Populus alba).
   • Ab'bey. The great white poplar: one of the varieties of the Populus alba.1825, James Jennings, Observations on some of the Dialects of the West of England, page 21

See all 15 meanings of abbey