(a) The head or deputy head of a monastery or a house of mendicants, a prior; also, the head of a house of canons; (b) abbotes and (or) prioures; prioures chapele (cloistre); ~ and brether, ~ and covent; ~ dignite, a prior's rank or office; ~ of religioun, a prior; ~ provincial, the director of all the houses of a religious order in a province as designated by the order; maugre his chosen ~, although he was chosen prior; (c) fig.; (d) a priory; (e) a prioress; (f) a predecessor or superior; (g) in surnames and place names [see Smith PNElem. 2.73].