Pri"o*ry (?), n.; pl.
Priories (#). [Cf. LL. prioria. See
Prior, n.] A religious house presided
over by a prior or prioress; -- sometimes an offshoot of, an
subordinate to, an abbey, and called also cell, and
obedience. See Cell, 2.
☞ Of such houses there were two sorts: one where the prior was
chosen by the inmates, and governed as independently as an abbot in an
abbey; the other where the priory was subordinate to an abbey, and the
prior was placed or displaced at the will of the abbot.
Alien priory, a small religious house
dependent on a large monastery in some other country.
Syn. -- See Cloister.