cloister

Short definition from Wiktionary

Noun

1. 1
   A covered walk with an open colonnade on one side, running along the walls of buildings that surround a quadrangle; especially: such an arcade in a monastery;
2. 2
   A covered walk with an open colonnade on one side, running along the walls of buildings that surround a quadrangle; especially: such an arcade fitted with representations of the stages of Christ's Passion.
3. 3
   A place, especially a monastery or convent, devoted to religious seclusion.
4. 4
   The monastic life.

Verb

1. 1
   To become a Roman Catholic religious.
2. 2
   To confine in a cloister, voluntarily or not.
3. 3
   To deliberately withdraw from worldly things.
4. 4
   To provide with a cloister or cloisters.
5. 5
   To protect or isolate.