nunnery

From Middle English nonnery, nonnerie, equivalent to nun +‎ -ery.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnʌn(ə)ɹi/

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nunnery (plural nunneries)

1. (chiefly Christianity) The residence of a female religious community, a monastery for nuns.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     Get thee to a nunnery, why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?

2. (humorous, slang, obsolete) Synonym of brothel.
   • 1593, Thomas Nashe, Christs Teares ouer Ierusalem, page 79:

     [To] some one Gentleman generally acquainted, they giue... free priuiledge thenceforward in theyr Nunnery, to procure them frequentance...

   • 1977, J.T. Shipley, In Praise of England, page 194:

     To the antipapist Tudors nunnery was a slang term for a brothel.

• (residence of nuns): convent, ribat (Islamic)

• monastery

• abbess, cloister, convent, nun