friar

  • 1Friar — • A member of one of the mendicant orders Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Friar     Friar     † …

    Catholic encyclopedia

  • 2Friar — Fri ar, n. [OR. frere, F. fr[ e]re brother, friar, fr. L. frater brother. See {Brother}.] 1. (R. C. Ch.) A brother or member of any religious order, but especially of one of the four mendicant orders, viz: {(a) Minors, Gray Friars, or Franciscans …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 3friar — late 13c., from O.Fr. frere brother, friar (9c.), originally the mendicant orders (Franciscans, Augustines, Dominicans, Carmelites), who reached England early 13c., from L. frater brother (see BROTHER (Cf. brother)) …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 4friar — friar, monk A friar is a member of a mendicant (i.e. living on alms) or originally mendicant religious order of men, especially the Augustinians, Carmelites, Dominicans, and Franciscans, who live among the people and do good works. A monk can… …

    Modern English usage

  • 5friar — *religious, monk, nun …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 6friar — ► NOUN ▪ a member of any of certain religious orders of men, especially the four mendicant orders (Augustinians, Carmelites, Dominicans, and Franciscans). ORIGIN Old French frere, from Latin frater brother …

    English terms dictionary

  • 7friar — [frī′ər] n. [ME frer, frier < OFr frere < L frater, BROTHER] a member of any of various mendicant orders, as a Franciscan or Dominican friarly adj …

    English World dictionary

  • 8friar —    A friar is a monk, and would therefore normally be addressed as ‘brother’, but ‘friar’, used on its own or followed by a name, seems to have been used in former times. Friars were properly members of the mendicant orders of the Roman Catholic… …

    A dictionary of epithets and terms of address

  • 9Friar — A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.Friars and monksFriars differ from monks in that they are called to a life of poverty in service to a community, rather than cloistered asceticism and devotion. Whereas monks live cloistered away …

    Wikipedia

  • 10friar — n 1. mendicant, monk, monastic, almsman, beggar, brother; father, padre, priest; prior, abbot, abbé 2.Franciscan, Gray Friar; Dominican, Black Friar; Carmelite, White Friar; Augustinian, Austin Friar …

    A Note on the Style of the synonym finder