Nun
[nʌn]
Definition
(noun.) the 14th letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
(noun.) a woman religious.
Checker: Zelig--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A woman devoted to a religious life, who lives in a convent, under the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
(n.) A white variety of domestic pigeons having a veil of feathers covering the head.
(n.) The smew.
(n.) The European blue titmouse.
Typist: Ruben
Definition
n. a female who under a vow secludes herself in a religious house to give her time to devotion: (zool.) a kind of pigeon with the feathers on its head like the hood of a nun.—ns. Nun′-buoy a buoy somewhat in the form of a double cone; Nun′nery a house for nuns.—adj. Nun′nish.—ns. Nun′nishness; Nun's′-veil′ing a woollen cloth soft and thin used by women for veils and dresses.
Inputed by Antonia
Unserious Contents or Definition
For a religiously inclined man to dream of nuns, foretells that material joys will interfere with his spirituality. He should be wise in the control of self. For a woman to dream of nuns, foretells her widowhood, or her separation from her lover. If she dreams that she is a nun, it portends her discontentment with present environments. To see a dead nun, signifies despair over the unfaithfulness of loved ones, and impoverished fortune. For one to dream that she discards the robes of her order, foretells that longing for worldly pleasures will unfit her for her chosen duties.
Typist: Lolita
Examples
- Don't use such dreadful expressions, replied Meg from the depths of the veil in which she had shrouded herself like a nun sick of the world. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Well, Lucy (drawing on his gloves)will the Nun come again to-night, think you? Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- From amongst these cloaks, and behind that curtain, the Nun was said to issue. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- With a sort of angry rush-close, close past our faces--swept swiftly the very NUN herself! Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Life-like sounds bring life-like feelings: this shape was too round and low for my gaunt nun: it was only Madame Beck on duty. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- And that in former days a nun's ghost used to come and go here. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- If I were a Roman Catholic and could deaden my heart, stun it with some great blow, I might become a nun. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- The long nun proved a long bolster dressed in a long black stole, and artfully invested with a white veil. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- This time there was no Dr. John to whom to have recourse: there was no one to whom I dared whisper the words, I have again seen the nun. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- But she should be dressed as a nun; I think she looks almost what you call a Quaker; I would dress her as a nun in my picture. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Dr. Bretton failed not to tell me _why_ he was so kind: To keep away the nun, he said; he was determined to dispute with her her prey. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- A vague tale went of a black and white nun, sometimes, on some night or nights of the year, seen in some part of this vicinage. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- They say that hundreds of years ago a nun was buried here alive at the foot of this very tree, beneath the ground which now bears us. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- To the head-bandage was pinned a slip of paper: it bore in pencil these mocking words-- The nun of the attic bequeaths to Lucy Snowe her wardrobe. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- The garments in very truth, strange as it may seem, were genuine nun's garments, and by some hand they had been disposed with a view to illusion. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- So do nuns, with their close cell, their iron lamp, their robe strait as a shroud, their bed narrow as a coffin. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- And why, Lucy, can't you look and feel as I do--buoyant, courageousand fit to defy all the nuns and flirts in Christendom? Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Their animus against the cross and against monks and nuns was extreme. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- We have noted the peculiar bias of the early Anglo-Saxons and Northmen against the monks and nuns. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Well, on the evening in question, we were sitting silent as nuns in a retreat, the pupils studying, the teachers working. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
Editor: Rosalie