(a) A member of a religious order living in a community under a rule; also (loosely), a friar, canon, or other cleric [see canoun n.(2) & frere n.]; (b) monkes and prestes, ~ nor frere, monkes ne canounes, ~ other canoun (persoune, prest), clerk or ~ or canoun, bishopes prestes and monkes, ~ abbot and seculer, monkes canunkes ancres and hermites, etc.; (c) in proverbs & in company terms; an abhominable of monkes, a group of monks.

(a) Blak ~, a Benedictine monk; also, an Augustinian canon or other black-robed religious; grei (whit) ~, a Cistercian monk; also, a Franciscan friar [quot.: Lydg.] or other religious with clothing of undyed wool; the Benedictine Rule for the conduct of monastic life; monkes snout, monk's nose; monkes yeld, an annual or semiannual tallage usually levied by an abbot upon his customary tenants and taken as a sign of continued villeinage; (b) ~ child, boy monk; monkes cloistre, ~ hous, monastery; monk(es clothes, a monk's habit or the material for making it; also, a piece of cloth of a standard size; monkes wede, monk's habit; monkes froise [see froise]; ~ lif, monastic life; monastery (monasteries); monk(es reule.

(a) In surnames; (b) in place names [see Smith PNElem. 2.45].