Definition of "anchorite"
anchorite
noun
plural anchorites
One who lives in isolation or seclusion, especially for religious reasons; hermit.
Quotations
The household was diminished, and its expenses curtailed. There was a very blank anchorite repast when Pen dined from home: and he himself headed the remonstrance from the kitchen regarding the deteriorated quality of the Fairoaks beer.
1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 3, in The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850
The preposterous altruism too! […] Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
“Haven't you been in love since you came to Paris?”“I haven't got time for that sort of nonsense. Life isn't long enough for love and art.”“Your appearance doesn't suggest the anchorite.”
1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XXI, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […]