monk

[A. S. munec, munuc, from Lat. monachus a monk, from Gr. monachos = ( a.) living alone, solitary; (s.) a monk, from monos alone, single; Dut. & Sw. munk; Icel. munkr; O. H. Ger.munich; M. H. Ger. munich, münech; Ger. monch, Ital. monaco; Sp. & Port. monge; O. Fr. moigne; Fr. moine.] 1. Church Hist .: A male religious living in community (except the Chartreux and Camaldoli, who are strictly solitary), bound by rule and practicing the counsels of perfection. The name was in universal use till the rise of the friars in the thirteenth century, and belongs properly to none but members of the Benedictine Order and its offshoots, though it is often loosely applied to any male religious, as in the line "The solitary monk that shook the world." Montgomery: Luther. 2. Print.: A blacker portion in a printed sheet; a dark patch. A blackened, wasted impre ion. monk-bat, s. Zobl.: Molo us nasutus , the Smoky Mastiff-bat. The name ne Monk-bat was given to this species by Mr. Go e, from a curious habit of segregation on the part of the males.