friar, frier

& a. [Eng. friar; -v.] A. As substantive: 1. A monastery or community of friars. "So the first year of his coming over I was in the friery at Armagh."- State Trials (1681); Oliver Pluncket. 2. The system of living in brotherhoods; monkery. "When John Milverton began in favor of friery."Fuller: Church Hist ., vi. 272. B. As adj .: Like or characteristic of a friar. "Francis Cornfield did scratch his elbow when he had sweetly invented to signify his name, St. Francis, with a friary cowl, in a corn field."-Camden: Remains.