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motherhouse. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
motherhouse, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
motherhouse in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
motherhouse you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From 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 named 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
convent from which lower ranking houses depend
Translations to be checked
References
- Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
Anagrams